Jenson Button won an astonishing Canadian Grand Prix with a last lap pass on Sebastian Vettel, who made a mistake when leading.

After two high pressure finishes in Spain and Monaco where he held on, Vettel made a mistake under pressure this time and you could tell that it hurt him.

He extended his championship lead to 60 points, with Button moving into second place in the table, but it was scant consolation; everything has been going right for Vettel so far this year, but today he came unstuck.

Against all odds Button came through to win (Red Bull photo)

It was Button’s 10th career victory and his first since China last year. He described it as the “best race” of his career, before going off to speak to the stewards about his part in collisions with his team mate and with Fernando Alonso.

Mark Webber finished third after battling with Michael Schumacher in the closing stages.

The seven times champion had his best race since his comeback, looking like he might get a podium at one point.

The race featured five safety car restarts and was stopped after 25 laps when Race Director Charlie Whiting listened to Vettel and other drivers who radioed in to say that the circuit was ‘undriveable’. The delay lasted two hours.

It also featured more controversy for Lewis Hamilton who again tried to force the issue in a furious opening five laps and ended up crashing out.

It had rained on and off all morning in Montreal. It wasn’t raining on the grid, a warm wind was blowing. The race started behind the safety car, a cautious decision, but one which reflected the lack of understanding the competitors had about the Pirelli wet tyres.

After being at the centre of things in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton was in the thick of it again here, once again the balance between aggressive and self destructive falling on the wrong side.

Very aggressive at the start, he connected with Mark Webber, “Lewis thought the chequered flag was in turn three,” said Webber ironically.

Then Hamilton had a battle with Michael Schumacher before smashing into the back of team mate Jenson Button. It ended his race and brought out the safety car.

Button moved over to the left, following the line most drivers were taking between the final corner and the kink at the start line. Not aware of how close Hamilton was he squeezed him into the wall.

“I felt that I was at least half-way alongside him,” said Hamilton. “Jenson made a mistake going into the final corner so I was able to get a better exit, and was coming down the outside of him. I don’t know if he could see me or not, but he just kept coming over and over.”

Meanwhile Button shouted down the radio, “What is he doing?” But straight after the race, he apologised to his team mate for the incident.

Button pitted for intermediate tyres at this point, on lap 9. He rejoined in the queue behind the safety car in 12th. But he was given a drive through penalty for speeding behind the safety car. This dropped him to the back of the field. From here he fought back to win the race.

At the restart, Vettel was able to pull away quite easily from Alonso in second place at around a second a lap, Massa was tucked in behind.

On lap 17 Button set a lap over a second faster than Vettel indicating that intermediate tyres were the ones to be on.

Ferrari reacted immediately, bringing Alonso in for intermediates and getting him out just ahead of Button.

It was a bad call as he was in a few laps later, along with Button, when the rain fell hard. Kamui Kobayashi stayed out and rose to second place as the safety came out again for the heavy rain.

Vettel described conditions on the main straight as “undriveable” and urged the Race Director via radio not to consider restarting the race because it would be too dangerous for the cars behind him.

Charlie Whiting agreed with him and stopped the race on lap 25 as the rain cannoned off the race track.

After a two hour wait, the safety car led the 23 remaining cars around in preparation for a restart.

The safety car stayed out a long time and by the time it came in the track was ready for intermediate tyres. Schumacher made up places by coming straight in, as did Di Resta and Heidfeld.

Most drivers followed suit. Alonso lost time in his stop and when he went out he was racing Button, who ran up the inside of him into a chicane and they collided, putting Alonso out of the race. Button got a puncture.

At the front, Vettel pulled away from Kobayashi, Felipe Massa,

On lap 41 Heidfeld and Di Resta collided at the final chicane damaging the front wing of the Force India car. Schumacher pounced for fifth place. Webber battled with Schumacher.

Schumacher was on a charge, passing Heidfeld for fourth and closing on Kobayashi and Massa. Massa’s engineer Rob Smedley urged his driver to try top pass Kobayashi.

By lap 49 a drying line started to appear and drivers started thinking about slicks. Webber was the first to jump – a worthwhile gamble as it brought him a and one which also gave Red Bull a chance to pick the perfect moment to pit Vettel.

Schumacher made up two places, moving up to second place, when Kobayashi made a mistake and Massa got boxed in.

The closing stages featured an exceptional battle between Schumacher, Webber and Button. Button got ahead of both and chased after Vettel in the closing laps.

“As we always say, its the last lap that counts,”said Button. “A great race. To fight my way through from last position. It’s definitely my best race.”

Vettel was down after the race, “It was a long race, with a long break. All in all I can be satisfied but at the moment the impression I’ve got is I’m disappointed. To make a mistake on the last lap is not very sweet. I have no problem to admit I went a bit wide, outside the dry line, I got away with second.

“I could tell Jenson was quicker than us. I should have pushed a bit hard to open up a gap after the safety car. I was too cautious.”

What!! That is the most bizarre assessment I have read. Lewis is a great great driver, however he is trying to drive his car through a cloud of frustration in a slower car. Lewis will come back stronger from this experience as he has the skill and ability. Let’s just remember how young he is and how much he has achieved…but most importantly what he will achieve.
McLaren are all about Lewis, history supports this and that to me is horrendously ill informed comment…almost sounds like Lewis himself speaking!!

no point having sprinklers if you spend all the time behind the saftery car – think we were robbed of a start and about 10-15 laps in between – to have the saftey car out saying its too wet, only for people to change to inter’s straight away was a joke. Would have loved another few laps to see a few more battles pan out…

The safety car is often over-used and often very unfairly too, destroying a driver’s hard-earned lead. Many more incidents could be dealt with under waved yellows and why does the paying spectator have to watch a parade for so many laps when he pays his money for a race?

Perhaps there’s a lesson from MotoGP for the rule-writing wimps? Yesterday at Silverstone, in lashing rain, they ran three full length, full speed, uninterrupted Grand Prix and it’s worth remembering that the riders don’t have a single piece of carbon between them and any accident. Are motorcycle racers harder than F1 drivers?

No one says every race should be wet. All within reason – like DRS, you can’t use it the whole lap.

So, 5 dry races opens a possibility of artificial wet race. Especially if a historically dry race is next up or soon on the schedule. Example – 5 races dry, then Abu Dabi is coming up – in go the sprinklers. BUT key is we know it may “rain”, but we don’t know when during the race.

As for volume of water, that could be controlled artificially so that we don’t get into dangerous conditions where safety car has to control the field. I think it would be a unique experience – for one think about being there. You stay warm and enjoy your beverage while you’re watching a wet race. Plus I bet F1 cars look great in the wet with bright sunlight. It would be a unique experience to be sure.

Also they could do a rain – then drying – then back to rain again then rain finished.

It would be important that it’s a piece of software that’s automated and sequence is launched with lights-out at start. That way it’s not as if someone is there with a finger on the rain button. No human being can know what the rain sequence will be in the name of fairness. It has to be random and controlled by a “black box”. Fully doable.

Martin Whitmarsh said before the season started that DRS should not allow a driver to sail past another. That’s exactly what happened to Schumacher twice. Yes Button and Webber were faster than he was, but just because you’re faster it doesn’t mean you have the automatic right to be in front (and believe me I am no fan of Schumacher!). We were robbed of a fight (especially since Vettel fluffed it instead of fighting).

Not to take anything away from Button – he won fair and square as the rules are today, and I congratulate him. But DRS is just plain wrong.

For those who disagree with me about DRS that’s fine and I completely respect that, but would they still feel the same if driver X was winning and driver Y just sailed past him to win? Wouldn’t we feel robbed? ….if so then what’s the difference if it robs us of a fight for 20th position?

DRS really hinders drivers in slower cars who have put themselves in good positions through good driving and good strategy calls, like Schumacher in Canada. Without DRS he would most likely have finished second and it would have been well deserved. Also the Safety car that cancelled out the grand stand finish in Monaco seemed to manufacture one in Canada. Button would have been nowhere near the front without the safety cars. And Vettel had a considerable lead cancelled out 5 times through other people mistakes.

Yeah, We’ll douse the track with water and then we can start behind the safety car until the track dries almost completely. Everyone can then come in for tyres, then we’ll douse it again and send the safety car out.

In my opinion this sprinkler idea is very wrong. One can even argue about rain racing.
Yes, the last 10 laps were very good to look at, at the same time 30 laps or something behind a safetycar and a 2+ hour wait are boooring.
Rain races become exciting because some top drivers get it wrong somehow, mostly because of bad luck. One example is the intermediate tyre change of some drivers just before the rain started falling really hard.
I don’t like to see this. I like to see the best drivers in the best cars, all under ideal circumstances fighting out who is the best. Not a lotery.

Instead of sprinklers one could also suggest all drivers to pull a straw. The one with the shortest straw starts from pole.
Or make, on every F1-circuit, a one mile cross road to see which of the F1 cars handles best the off road exercise.

Button finally got to do to Vettel what he threatened to do in Monaco. But what a way to do it!!!! The speed he was able to Marshall out of those Super soft’s was just so much more than anybody else that the pressure just grew on Vettel to the point he cracked.

Yeah Lewis had speed too until JB shunted him into the wall. Compare Martin Whitmarsh’s reaction to Jenson’s win compared to his reaction to Lewis’s win in China. You will see what’s really going on in that team. Lewis is the outsider, he’s fighting his team, himself and the Bulls, with very little real support from MW.

would you blame them? He isnt exactly doing anything to win them over, criticizing them for any strategy mistake or loss, and them waltzing in the be the one man show “Im the only one who can beat Vettel” “These three drivers (not including my teamate) are my threats this year” I mean seriously, he even appears to be souring his relationship for his one champion in the team, Ron Dennis. Kid needs some serious growing up.

Harsh. JB perhaps should’ve seen LH and should’ve been looking for him. LH probably should’ve gone up the inside (outside?), knowing that the racing line would wedge him against the wall. Or he should’ve just held off and taken the long view. It was a good opening for LH, JB was much slower out of that corner, and 99% of the time LH will go for such an opportunity. But if he had just held back, maybe it would’ve been him on the top step at the end of today.

His last two weekends were like Monza and Singapore last year. If he would’ve just bided his time, he probably could’ve snagged at least third in Italy last year, and fourth in Singapore. That’s 27 more points, and would’ve been the DWC for him. Instead he went for the knockout blow, believing that he had to win in Italy (a favourable track) before the Red Bull’s would go to more favourable tracks.

Sometimes to be champion you just have to keep yourself in with a shout, and let the others fall away. LH needs to learn that pronto. He should already be a 3-time DWC champion, but he only has 1, and he almost blew that one as well!

I don’t think Lewis is the outsider. I may be wrong but I saw it as Whitmarsh being (a) overly exuberant and (b) assuring a driver who day-in-day-out has been out-performed by his teammate.
At the same time Lewis is a bit hot and cold in regards to praising/blaming the team.

I think you are reading into Martin Whitmarsh’s reaction what you want to hear, rather than what is actually happening. Whitmarsh was probably on a rush of adreenaline at the way the last few laps panned out, who could blame him for being exuberant about it?

Lewis and Jenson do appear to have parity within the team, but they have different driving styles which I think brings a strength to McLaren, and you would have to be daft to think that a multi million pound team would chuck that all away by marginalising one of their drivers.

So… You’re actually saying that Button is doing a Senna to Hamilton which we’ll compare to Prost here?

Lewis is probably not helping his cause by crashing with just about everybody at the moment.
Button seems more mature and more of a team player, both when things go well or go pear shaped. Lewis probably a little too critical at times when Jenson is able to contain his emotions.

Great day for Button and McLaren.. A thrilling grand prix despite the long interruption.

Oh come off it, it was clearly a racing incident.
If blame were to be apportioned then even as a Hamilton fan I would put the blame on Hamilton 70-30. He should have seen that just as he moved left to overtake, Button also started moving over too and pulled out. If you start making a move it doesn’t mean you can’t abort it.

Don’t really see that Lewis is getting a raw deal. Every weekend he’s there or thereabouts and usually quicker than JB, at least in terms of outright speed.
If he has a problem at all it seems to be the ‘car magnets’ that McLaren fit to his car on the grid resulting in impacts with any car within 10ft at all corners.
I’m not complaining, I wouldn’t change a chargers style for the world, but it just doesn’t seem to be serving him well at the moment.
And, the more it goes on the more desperate it begins to appear – unfortunately.

I’m not so sure about this ‘make your own luck’ lark.
Sebs had two and a half very lucky races so far – not of his own making. In 2 of them the cards fell for him but today – not quite, although very nearly.
He’s undoubtedly fierce fast and today we saw him (rather than the car) make the difference at various points in the race. But I do get the feeling that while Red Bull still have a tech edge it’s all but been eroded by a number of the teams, and they don’t seem to be bouncing back as quickly any more.

Whilst the race was interesting and somewhat exciting I feel like I’ve been robbed by DRS. It seems to be a tool that the big three teams can use to simply sail by their victims at the push of a button. Schumacher and Kobiyashi were robbed today and I think the FIA seriously need to rethink this piece of technology. I don’t want to see cars sailing by each other on the straight, I want to see a battle. It’s stopping the smaller teams from strategically positioning themselves in a race. Give us real overtaking and real battles, not this cheap alternative!

As someone on another forum pointed out, DRS aids overtaking. Cars can catch at 2 seconds per lap but still struggle to overtake.

If an overtake is due to genuine speed, then the car will pull away at 2 seconds per laps as Button did.

DRS only works when cars are 1 second apart. First you have to get close enough. If you are not faster than the car in front to pull away, then they will only do the same to you when the lap comes round.

You should feel cheated that aero design prevents the skill of your driving showing through by not allowing cars to get close enought to attack.

So are you saying that if you are able to go faster then you have an automatic right to be in front of the person ahead of you?

Before DRS was re-endabled, Webber, Button and Schumacher were having a cracking battle, with Button and Webber able to follow very closely to Schumacher, and attempt passing moves. When DRS was enabled they sailed past. In what way is that good? Schumacher was in front on merit and defending extremely well. Does he not have that right to defend?

Yes, Webber and Button had better pace in clear air, but they had not earned that track position, whereas Schumacher was in 2nd by earning it through driving and strategy. If pace in clear air is all that matters, then Formula 1 is no longer a race but a time trial.

I have no affection for Schumacher, no disaffection for Webber or Button, and of course Schumacher and all the dtivers use DRS as and when they can, so I have no problem with the fact that Button and Webber chose to use DRS as they were entitled to. My problem is that DRS is plain wrong.

If a football team is losing a match, even though they have had more shots on goal, should 3 of the team winning be taken away temporarily so the other team can catch up? Sounds ridiculous, no?

Couldn’t agree more. Usage of DRS undermining the skills of the drivers a bit too much. No doubt it was an exciting race, but DRS really robbed us from what could’ve been the most exciting race so far. Also FIA should do something about the restart rule. Can’t think of any other race that allows drivers to change tyres or wings or fix the car when it’s red flagged. Cars should not be touched under the red flag. It undos all the hard work everyone else does laps after laps. Button & Schumacher definitely the drivers of the day. Webber is not far behind. Hamilton deserves a grid place penalty for creating unnecessary chaos.

Yes, DRS is cosmetic.
But so is the alternative. The cars have become so aerodynamically efficient for the last so many years that overtaking became impossible. Did that not make racing cosmetic as well?

I’m glad for DRS and Pirelli. Otherwise this season for us fans would have been 90% of tv footage being Vettel plodding around the front by himself. I’d had enough of that sort of F1.

Ultimately it is that cosmetic DRS that let an incredibly fast Jenson jump Schumi/Mark so he’d be able to pressure Vettel into a mistake.

Sebee, absolutely agree. For being the unsung hero of racetracks, I think Canada truly becomes my favourite stop of the season. Cracking race.

“Ultimately it is that cosmetic DRS that let an incredibly fast Jenson jump Schumi/Mark so he’d be able to pressure Vettel into a mistake.”

So you think it is cosmetic for a much faster driver to be able to overtake?

I’m sorry – that makes no sense whatsoever.

Until this season, I’ve wondered why so many people follow modern F1 compared to GP2/F3/BTCC/DTM/Le Mans etc. The racing in F1 has, with rare exceptions, been mind-numbingly boring.

Some people (Bernie Ecclestone?) used to argue that people loved F! as a strategy game, and not the actual racing. I never believed it, but judging by some people’s reaction to DRS, it’s true!

Unfortunately, I grew up watching F1 with ground-effect, when overtaking happened on a regular basis, so I happen believe F1 is about racing, with cars overtaking as their comparative speed changes throughout the race phases.

Yet all the F1 drivers have been highly successful in other categories of racing, and proved their race craft time and time again.

The aerodynamics in F1 make overtaking almost impossible (plus sequential shifts, which make it impossible to miss a gear change). Which is why the actual racing in modern F1 (until this season) has been deadly dull compared to almost every other form of circuit racing.

Why do you think F1 failed in the USA? Because they judged it on its entertainment value, not its perceived status as ‘the pinnacle of motor sport’.

JonC says:
“Yes, DRS is cosmetic.
But so is the alternative. The cars have become so aerodynamically efficient for the last so many years that overtaking became impossible. Did that not make racing cosmetic as well?”

When the following car loses downforce, it is pure physics, nothing cosmetic about it. Thats why drivers must work all weekend, qualification, get the start right etc , not to suffer from hole in the air(or lack of it) during the race.
This “1 second gap gives you DRS” rule is cosmetic, because it creates something like “alternative physiscs”. Why do we really need that Mickey Mouse reality? Because some “fans” are not ready to watch racing as it is and need popcorn and coke alongside to make 2 hours of a race tolerable?

There is no concept of ‘pure F1′ – it has always been an artefact of the technology of the time together with the rules in force.

Hence the famous drafting races at Monza in the late 60s (much closer than anything today – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Italian_Grand_Prix ), the ground effect cars of the early eighties, the turbo monsters of the mid-80s, the fuel economy runs of the late-80s are just a few of the different types of racing that F1 has produced over the years. All of which required different styles and approaches to succeed, but the names of the champions, by and large, remained the same.

In other words: F1 is what we chose it to be. Why not chose it to be entertaining?

Why yes.
Yes I’d like some popcorn and coke after the last seasons’ snooze-fests of watching the exhilarating run down to the first corner to watch the leader after that have a lovely Sunday drive up front followed by the promise of overwhelming excitement in a handful of pitstop overtakes later on.
I’m sorry wanting more makes me a “fan”.

I’ll point you to Carl Craven above me:
“You should feel cheated that aero design prevents the skill of your driving showing through by not allowing cars to get close enought to attack.”

I won’t argue DRS isn’t cosmetic. I will argue aero-efficiency had made racing cosmetic.
I’m glad faster cars don’t have to be locked up behind slower ones for daring to approach them.

I was almost warming up to the DRS. After this race that was put to bed. DRS needs to go, put an end to this Mario Kart racing. Soon there will be “Red Shells” launchers on the cars. Passing should be HARD!!! Button needs to keep this up, its not to late. James again, great site, thanks.

DRS is part of the game, and without it, the Canadian Grand-Prix would not have ended as it did. That’s a fact.

Vettel cracked because he knew that if Button closed
the gap to under one second it would be very hard to defend (theoritically, because there was only a single dry racing line, so maybe Vettel could have resisted).

In the end, the DRS did not technically allow Button to pass. Only the fact that it was possible for
Burton to use it made Vettel crack.

Well Said.
I was geeking OUT while watching Buttons deficit falling below the 1 sec mark. Even then he couldnt quite make the advantage stick – but Vettel was now leaking pee! It just tee’d it up beautifully.
And remember DRS only facilitates an overtaking manoeuvre, its no guarantee of pulling out a lead! Can you imagine a tit-for-tat battle between two world champions over 6/7/8/ laps!!! The best is yet to come from DRS…….

I would like to see it(DRS)changed if it has to stay. Maybe you could get 20 time per race, you could use it any place on track. It would open things up… do I use it now or wait and safe them for the end? It would let the truly great drivers get on with there jobs. Just wondering what anyone thinks.

Oh dear. I knew the anti-DRS chant would start again. Did you actually watch the race?

Did you see Webber failing to get past Schumacher, because of the difficulty in stopping the car once you get off-line and have damp tyres? Obviously not?

Did you see the in-car shots with Heidfeld behind Kobayashi, where he was closing but had nowhere to go because the overtaking areas were wet. It proved that even with DRS you need to be right behind your competitor to be able to make it happen and get back to the dry line in time to stop. In Nick’s case, he was so close that he was unable to react when Kamui failed to get drive out of the corner.

The problem with a track like Canada is that as it dries, the racing line that develops is very narrow – effectively a one-lane Scalextric track. It would have been a procession at the end without DRS.

Remember Canada 2000? Villeneuve slamming into Ralf Schumacher at the hairpin because “he was bored” being stuck behind all the traffic. And that was also in the wet…

It’s not so black and white, it’s possible to be against DRS and also be against the aerodynamic designs that have hurt the excitement in F1. I think most ‘DRS haters’ want a change to the aerodynamic design laws but don’t believe that DRS is the answer. To me it’s patching over the cracks of F1, it’s massaging the flaws. I don’t think it’s going to take long for others to start to doubt the qualities of DRS, I think it’s going to be a short lived technology and hopefully it will be shelved in exchange for a real solution to the problem that has plagued F1 in recent years.

Definitely agree that DRS isn’t a perfect solution – it is clearly an artificial creation.

The fundamental problem is F1 cars’ dependency on aerodynamic downforce, and the fact that that disappears when following another car.

How to fix that is another problem entirely. Ground effect was banned on the grounds(!) that it was felt that cornering speeds had become unsafe. But I think that re-introducing some form of regulated ground effect is probably the way to go in the long term, as long as the cars don’t take off if they are launched in some way.

(Also, it’s worth noting that the new fins that Le Mans cars had this year, which seemed to help keep McNish’s car on the ground, might help with this.)

However that will be a radical change for F1 for some point in the future. But, in the meantime DRS is a useful stopgap, and once they’ve figured out the right length of DRS zone to use for each track (which will take a season), I think it will provide good racing rather than a push-to-pass system .

Can’t win either way really. I have mixed feelings about DRS I guess, but I prefer it to what we had before. Overtaking was so rare in the last few years, that I expect all we’d have seen was Schumacher/Webber/Button following eachother around for 15 laps.

I’d definitely call that being “robbed of a race”, if someone who’s 2 seconds faster is stuck behind. You could say that if they’re good enough they should be able to overtake, but it rarely happened in the last few years.

The way I see it, they still have to be faster, otherwise the other driver is just going to be able to come back at them straight away anyway. I get the point that it makes overtaking less skill to a point though.

It’s definitely been overkill in some places, and it may have pushed overtaking a bit too far, and it would be nice to have a more balanced system. That said, I prefer this to a complete lack of overtaking.

True, he is a qualifier. Very fast but has trouble with the pass. I don’t think he could have pulled a Button. I would love to see Hamilton in a Redbull, well if he started last in every race. That would be fun to watch.

What is this nonsense ? OK SV is not perfect, had a mistake under a car faster by 1 sec at least under the conditions and lost the perfect result. Still he is so close to perfect and so dominating , had such incredibly good luck, that no need to feel gutted (If he would have crashed the car thats something else) and certainly no need to underestimate him. I certainly am not his fan, but without a shade of a doubt he has been the BEST and QUICKEST driver of the season so far.

Not that I’m anti-Vettel but I would like to remind that from three races in which McLaren and Ferrari were able to put on the pressure on him Seb has lost two, and on the third occasion he was saved by race stoppage allowing him to change his tyres. He may be the fastest on a single lap and when the track is clear in front and behind him, but he still has to prove a lot as a racer. Otherwise people will continue thinking that his winnings are 95% Red Bull and Newey. And by the way, I would love to see how this race would go with Schumacher driving one of the Red Bulls

Tim, not sure that SV ‘Choked’ today, I’ll allow him a couple of errors per year, nobodies perfect. At some points today it was obviously SV and not the car doing the business.
BUT
Something undoubtedly on his mind going in to the last 2 laps – this is a circuit with 4 or 5 overtaking opps per lap. Unlike some with zero opps and most with just 1 or 2. He knew for sure – once he’d seen JB’s closing speed – that as soon as JB was with him he could attack, and he wouldn’t be able to get away with just holding his line.

To be honest all, I do like Button but I think praising his strategic calls is a little shortsighted because most of his strategic calls are because 1) He is slower than his team-mate and can’t adopt the same fastest theoretical strategy to beat him. 2) There is some sort of event or occurance that messes up his current strategy. He isn’t Prost. He’s nowhere close. I like his mentality, he’s a nice guy, and he is strong in every area…but I believe he isn’t great in every area.

Quite true, though I think the win in Canada wasn’t really the result of any bold tactical choices. He was the first to switch to intermediates, which was one of those smart decisions, but the benefit from it was negated by the penalty and the clash with Alonso.
When the time came to switch to drys, he changed a lap behind Webber and a few others. I think Vettel may be ruing the decision to switch to drys 3 laps after his team-mate.

Have to say – do agree with both of you there – a bit !
BUT – At least he’s doing it. When he’s in a hole he can usually see that before most of the others can evaluate their position, and then more often than not he takes a punt and does something about it. Which usually makes good viewing.
Maybe not the best that’s ever been but certainly has the brain minerals.

“Then Hamilton had a battle with Michael Schumacher before smashing into the back of team mate Jenson Button.”

I think that is too much… Button did not pay attention and he smashed into Lewis Hamilton but obviously Lewis got blamed.

I went to the cinema yesterday to see Senna movie and I can’t believe how much Lewis reminds me of Ayrton. He is just in a different league that all the rest, always sitting on a rear wing of a car in front and unfortunately they do whatever they can not to let him pass…

Nobody smashed into anyone. It was a coming together that due to the conditions and the track design meant Lewis damaged his car badly enough to end his race – a racing incident. As was the Button and Alonso incident.

For all of you guys with the rose colored Lewie specs on the fact that Button’s rear left hit Lou’s right front sort of indicates how ‘alongside’ he was to Button. Similarly, Lewis locking up with his front left alongside M’donado’s right rear doesn’t exactly reek of controlled aggression – or even half a chance of getting through.
Not that I’d change anything, I’m all for the bonkers lunge from miles back – but not at Ste Devote where there’s barely room for one car to get through, and not in the wet with high spray when it’s likely that the guy in front won’t see you, and anyway, you’re trying to get through at a point where you know he’s going to be sweeping to the left to take the usual line for the corner.
I love Lew and really want it to come good – but at the moment too many incidents too often.

Oh there is a big difference in what you are saying.
In Monaco LH braked himself at the latest possible point not even halfway next to Maldonado. Yes he was on the inside but he was diving into a hole that wasn’t there. How can you expect a driver in front to leave room in every single corner because of a possible attack from the man behind ?? If you are in front you take the racing line unless someone is completely next to you the moment you turn in.
JB was already next to FA the moment they started braking. Alonso, while on the racing line braked later. But there was no way to go for JB and it would have been wise from FA to leave some space.
I’m saying this as a Ferrari fan.

Re: What league is Hamilton in? we’ll know in 10 years. Until then we’ll just sound like a bunch of kids during lunch in the playground explaining why our newest phone is better.

Re: Stewards picking on Hamilton. It isn’t picking on him. He’s one of the best of this generation, easily visible to just about everyone, if not everyone. He’s trying to overcome shortfalls of the car too early in the race. His mind management is faltering. The McLarens have been blindingly quick during the race for the previous three or four races. They *know* that qualifying is where they’re falling short. They’ve said it at least the last two Saturdays. Hamilton doesn’t need to overcompensate. Button demonstrated that. It’s just a hiccup for Hamilton. He’ll get the message soon. I don’t know if either he or Button can catch Vettel for the Driver’s title, but they’re on the verge of being favorites in the Constructors’ if they can get qualifying sorted and Hamilton gets rid of his current bug. Maybe once off-throttle hot blown diffusers are regulated…

There was near 30 feet on the *other* side of Button’s car and more than 60 laps to run. Not Hamilton’s first rain race. Going for an overtake of your teammate at the wrong time in the wrong place? All of what F1 is about. That’s why one was standing on the top step of the podium and the other was getting hugs from a superfluous celebrity. Hamilton will be back. He has a long time remaining in F1 and I’m sure he’s picking up knowledge constantly as anyone else of his caliber would do.

Well said mate. Love the comparison with the new phone. Lewis got away with just warnings too many times in last few years. Eventually it was gonna catch up to him anyway. Maybe now he’ll start to become a complete driver than just a ‘great potential’. If not, then he’ll be in ‘Kimi league’.

As much as Hamilton would like to be Senna, I see nothing in him that reminds me of Ayrton besides wearing a yellow helmet.

In fact, it is Alonso that reminds me more of Senna. He has a greater focus on pure racing and winning (despite today’s race).

Hamilton probably needs to stop trying to emulate his hero and eat some humble pie.
In 2007, he was just a marvel to watch. I was in Fuji that year and he just seemed on a different level back then. Let’s hope we can see this Lewis again soon.

Hamilton is no Senna, it was a great to see some drivers come alive today, well done Button for showing his immature and ‘run out of talent’ team mate how it’s done, grats to Schuey for also not just moving over for the overrated Hamilton and it’s good to see a glimps of the old Michael, thanks Mark for not letting the Mclaren through at turn 1, a well gutsy drive, also a mention to Vettel for being unlucky and nice one Kobayashi for showing you truly stand out in an inferior car.

Also if it was Senna he would of fairly carved his way to the lead after the first lap like Donnington 93, Hamilton might try to act like him but he’s no Senna, just not good enough, I like to remind you Jenson Button is AHEAD of Hamilton in the standing, tell you something this feels too good.

I think this is people putting past legends too far up on a pedestal. Senna could be ruthless at times, and it was in an era where you could totally close the door on someone and that was not frowned upon.

JB, while he did well today, is not the driver that LH is. Not even close. Case in point, letting Vettel sail past him easily, basically inviting him past, both in Australia, and in Spain.

No doubt Lewis is one of the most exciting drivers in modern f1. But I agree with James that he sometimes doesn’t seem to understand the difference between aggression and attack. It’s just a bit too much. Last year Vettel won the ‘crash kid’ award & this year Hamilton has managed to take it away from Vettel. It’s naive to think that he is not at fault. I’m a born Schumacher fan, doesn’t mean that I’ll defend Schumi when he makes mistakes. Hamilton fans don’t seem to accept it what so ever! Lewis deserves a grid place penalty for his actions.

JB did squeeze Lewis into the wall but he was following the racing line. I doubt that he could see that clearly in his mirrors through the spray and Lewis was going for a gap that was always only going to get smaller.

Saying sorry doesn’t mean an admission of liability.

And anyway, Lewis’s reaction as he watched Jenson cross the finish line was not that of someone who was bearing a grudge against his team-mate for putting him out of the race.

It’s unfortunate that it’s becoming impossible for Hamilton to receive an fair assessment. Even Lauda was claiming that Hamilton needed to be punished for the incident with Button, and this was before the race was complete.

“Button also escaped any sanctions for his clash with team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The stewards said as the two drivers exited Turn 13 there was a legitimate overtaking opportunity for Hamilton as his speed was greater than Jenson Button’s

At the moment that Hamilton moved to the left to pass, the stewards reckoned Button looked into his mirror.

The stewards said: “It appears from the position of Hamilton at that moment [and is confirmed by the drivers] that Button was unlikely to have seen Hamilton

“At the point of contact Button had not yet moved as far to the left of the track as he had on the previous lap, or that Schumacher had on that lap.

“The Stewards have concluded that it was reasonable for Hamilton to believe that Button would have seen him and that he could have made the passing manoeuvre. Further, the Stewards have concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Button was not aware of Hamilton’s position to his left.

“Therefore, the Stewards decide that this was a ‘racing incident’ and have taken no further action.”

He showed he was a dirty driver shunting Lewis into a wall and Alonso off the track. No penalties awarded either. You have to wonder if Lewis had a point in Monaco – notice PdR also had a ridiculous penalty handed out today

On a serious note James – what is really going on with Lewis? The level of irritation within the paddock from drivers, stewards, the British media etc just seems to have heightened this year! What has Lewis been upto that we are not being told? Is XIX misadvising him? Should he get back his dad as manager? Afterall Anthony seems to be doing a very good job with Paul.

James, I think you have to agree that stating that Lewis drove into the back of Jenson is a bit unfair. If you look at the video from the front you can cleary see Jenson pulling left more than the normal line. I’m sure that it was not to drive Lewis into the wall, but he knew Lewis was there.

Laughable. Jenson one of the fairest and most honest drivers on the grid. Lewis is an immense talent but just needs to develop his tactical awareness, no doubt he will be wdc again.
Silly comments that show a lack of understanding of our sport.

2 things…no 3 things to say about the race.
1. The way I have seen it, Button cause Hamilton smack into the wall and Button knocked out Alonso.
2. Hamilton should calm done and rethinking his approach to driving and the way he is going to carry on racing and developing his career
3. Vettel just proved everything people were saying about it all year long – he was never under pressure and for the first time he was pressurized by Button and he cracked.

Newey built a great car…and Vettel is a great qualifier. Under the pressure…he is not on the same level as Hamilton and Alonso.

Not really Vettel’s been under pressure for quite a few races this season but for once a damp patch caught him out, we are all humans just look at the catalogue of mistakes by Hamilton over the last few years, Vettel is the best but Button drove the race of his life today, no shame for any of the top 4 today, and also this race easily out done Moro gp.

Even with the huge DRS zone there was at Montmeló, overtaking was more difficult than it had been the previous races. He just needed to stay and don’t commit errors and he would keep position. Monaco was a even more extreme example of that. Yesterday he could not keep position just staying on track, he had to risk, and he don’t know how to do that without commiting an error half the times.

I would hate to see Hamilton in a RB. He should do it but I think it would be horrible for F1.

That being said, I’m starting to believe that Lewis has to leave McLaren. I think he will end up like Mika Hakkinen – having spent 7+ years fighting with exploding Peugeots, underperforming Mercedes, and unreliable McLarens only to end up with only two World Championships.

Clearly he didn’t take the right risk since he ended up losing a wheel! I didn’t say it was Lewis’ fault, but you need to take the right risks or you won’t get to the end (if you want to finish first, first you’ve got to finish…)

Torn on the Button-Hamilton incident, Button should of been expecting Hamilton to be right on the back of him but Hamilton was a little impetuous. I don’t think he’d of tried to do that against some of the less skilled drivers on the grid.

The race was a success in spite of the stewards decisions. They should of started normally. Some needlessly long safety car deployments, their was virtually a dry line before they pulled in the penultimate safety car. I agreed with the precautionary safety car after the deluge.

The restarts in F1 need looking at they’re nearly always disappointing with the leader having far too great an advantage. Was the first safety car line before the DRS check line?

1. Why is safety car finding it so hard to pick up the leader, instead of coming out at random?

2. Why, after huge public outcry, rules still permit drivers to change their tires and all that stuff during red flag, without having to start from the pit or something like that? For example moving to the back of the grid, and being in front of only those who also worked on the car and were already behind them before the red flag.

I guess, I’m looking for a common sense in a wrong place (looking at you FIA)!

Far superior car, 2 x US$250 million test teams running alternate programs 7 days a week, 2 wind tunnels running 24/365 and a contract saying that only you get the upgrades first, and a clause saying that the other driver in the team cannot overtake you or ‘win’ if you have a chance to.
Still a great driver ?
Very good for sure, but lets face it if you’re not setting records through your career with that set up there’s got to be something wrong.
And I think his coming back in to F1 on a more equal footing to the others only gives credence to this. Pity really.

Graham & KRB non sense.
Every top driver goes to top team and drive a top car for about one third of his career and that was no different.

“Very good for sure, but lets face it if you’re not setting records through your career with that set up there’s got to be something wrong.”

Wrong, you cannot get that “set up” if you are not that good to start with. Look at his comeback, you got Ross Brawn blur blur why didnt he get that no 1 status. At the end of the day you gotta show that you can do a better job than anyone else to get a top car and number one status.I am tired of the whole no 1 driver myth. If the contract didnt allow Rubens to race,why didnt he beat him all the time and let him pass at the last race? MS was “contractually” no 2 driver in 99, even then you can tell who was the far better driver.
So get your facts right guys.

Funnily enough I was thinking just this a few minutes ago and would also love it. Webber won’t be there much longer – I’d be surprised if he goes on past next season now he isn’t getting younger and the season’s are getting longer – but if Ricciardo does well WHEN he gets his seat in the TR that will probably be the route they will take.

But Kobayashi would be great to see, although half the fun of Kobayashi is that he isn’t already in a great car and gets to scythe through the field in a decent but not outstanding car. If RB continue their dominance we may lose this spectacle with him up or near the front regularly. Perhaps in a decent Renault, or slightly better Mercedes.. that’s where I think watching him would be fantastic.

Great race – shame Schumacher couldn’t have held on for a podium though. In pre DRS days he would have, but I guess that is the price we pay for more over taking generally – all other things equal, the cars should usually finished in order order of outright pace.

Great drive by Button. It’s unfortunate for Vettel that he has given ammunition to those in the “Seb doesn’t like it up ‘im” camp, of which there are a number ho post on this site!

Finally, James, were those boos I heard on the podium for Vettel? I hope not – that would be utterly unfair and unwarranted.

Ah okay. I heard the booing too and was disappointed by it, thinking it was for Vettel. I thought the Canadian fans were really good when it was pouring with rain and with the passion they had displayed generally but then wondered if that incident soured it a bit. If it really was for Mayor Tremblay then at least it doesn’t run the risk of coming across disrespectful on the sporting side – and on the political side I must admit I don’t know enough about the mayor to know whether his lack of popularity is warranted or not!

Firstly, what a great race- for a Button fan:-) but what I want to say is why are we so protective of the drivers- surely they should drive to the conditions- if they can only drive 60 mph then that is what they should do, it would still be a race. I am sure it would be great tv as well- racing is not all about pure speed- IMO

Whilst I understand and share your frustration, the cars ride just far too low for the standing water. When a car becomes a boat the driver has little to no control and that is unsafe – if he can’t stop the car and goes straight into another car it’s an accident that doesn’t need to happen.

During the (BBC)commentary DC mentioned that the extra ride height with the wets is about +5mm. I wondered if a larger full wet wheel could be used to increase the ride height that would be used at the discretion of the Race Director and used by all competitors at all times until the RD deemed it appropriate to return to the standard range. I’m no engineer so have no idea how realistic this is regards practicality, aero, gear ratios etc etc.

Both the wet weather tyres are 670mm diameter compared to the 660m dry tyres. They do need a return of the Monsoon tyres though, and at 680mm diameter it might be enough with another step in ride height, tread depth and softer suspension with the shift in polar moment.

Rose coloured specs I think, others see it differently, look at the video again, see how far Button was infront of Alonso…. I don’t exactly blame Alonso, moreover a racing incident, As was Hamilton, you can clearly see Button look in his left mirror, but if all you see is spray… and what would be the point of hitting either as you are just as likely to be put out the race yourself..

[mod] JB would never play foul. Both Lewis & Fernando see Jenson as someone who will giveway to avoid collisons. Its obvious he didnt see Lewis & as for Fernando, well he assumed the usual and got a shock. Absolutely stunning race!

He might have known Hamilton was there but not how close he was. The alonso contact was about 2 world champions wanting the same bit of track button on hot tyres alonso on cold tyres. Just a racing incident. As the stewards said. Thats the bottom line cos emmo said so.

For sure. Seeing how Button got a puncture from the Alonso clash, and thought for awhile that he’d sustained damage with the Lewis clash, I can’t see it being deliberate. To me that’s Button’s downfall … he isn’t ruthless enough to be a champion.

And it’s not like it would yield a return on investment vis-a-vis Hamilton in future races (i.e. LH thinking “be careful passing JB”), ‘cos LH will just attribute it to the conditions. LH will always try passing JB, as he’s an easy lay.

I’d recommend a re-wach of Brazil ’07. A pretty ruthless and fearsome drive from the World Champion that year. Granted he needs to be in a groove on any given day, but when he’s in that groove he’s as good as anyone, whether that’s tactically or aggressively. And for me, on those days, simply a joy to watch.

there was more than plenty of room to fit a boat on the inside line of alonso. JB had some understeer and hit alonso, this collision could have been avoided. If this was ham/alo/web he would definitly have had a penalty

Both of Button’s touches were racing incidents, quite normal in these conditions, and there were quite a few more in this race (f.e. Koba and Nick). Guess that’s the price U have to pay when U want to watch exciting, wet races.

As for Lewis, for the past few races he well deserved his opinion of a reckless driver. What he needs to do is to take his overtaking animal on a shorter leash and focus on racing.

Thx God i’m finding people that yhinks like me. I thought i had seen a different race. Button crashed Lewis, Button crashed Fernando, Button crashed Pedro, Button wins and is a hero here. Hope people will see that before “driver of the day” post.

Good work James, can’t believe you’ve got your article up so fast after what must have been an exhausting day!

Is this what it would have been like at the end of the Monaco GP if the red flag hadn’t come out? Very impressed with Button’s speed at the end, where did that come from? Looking forward to your race strategy analysis on this one : ) fingers crossed the stewards don’t do anything stupid, especially after Button said he apologised to Hamilton – hope he meant for not seeing him and not meaning it was his fault (which i don’t think it was, you see him look in his mirror and away again a split second before Hamilton actually moves to fill them).

Think driver of the day is a clear one for this race but I hope Schumi gets praise too, by far his best drive since his return, was a pleasure to watch. Here’s hoping for more dramatic finishes like today’s. Just wish there had been a BBC Forum, today certainly needed it after such an eventful race.

I’m pretty sure I saw Jenson look into his RIGHT mirror while contact was on the LEFT. This tells me that Jenson was taking his normal line, as both Brundle and Coulthard agreed, and therefore had absolutely no idea Lewis was on his left.

What I saw on the replay was that Jenson looked in his left mirror before moving left towards the wall, to check that Lewis wasn’t coming up the left – and at that point he wasn’t, Lewis was directly behind Jenson. Lewis pulled out just as Jenson looked back ahead, so Jenson wouldn’t have seen him.

Are you saying that Jenson used his “brains” to crash Hamilton and Alonso cars (2 championship winners)? I have to admit that it’s pretty smart; he then won, not by a passing move, but by a mistake of the race leader… I think today, unfortunately, JB just knocked the only 2 players that can really represent some type of competition to Vettel.
That being said, I am wondering if the stewards would have come out with the same verdict and waited until the end of the race if Alonso, Massa or even Vettel had been in the same incidents within the race. A shame!

That’s why i think there’s something up with Hamilton in general. He is usually very good at knowing the angles and finding lots of areas to pass on track, and this track has lots of overtaking potential. He really didn’t need to go all or nothing there, especially in the wet.

I think it might have been a bit of momentary red mist after the collision with Webber quickly followed to being driven wide by Schumacher right before the Button incident.

He allowed Vettel his main rival to extend the already huge lead in the WDC by another 18 points. This was a race with the potential to close that gap.

” He really didn’t need to go all or nothing there, especially in the wet.”

Totally agree, and adding to that you forgot to mention the worse lack of judgment of the WALL being there. I am a Hamilton fan, but that move was near suicidal and the incident could have turned out a lot worse….

Vettel has just gotten all up inside Hamilton’s head and he isn’t taking it well. Lewis has never been much of a strategist and it’s the same thing that did him in monza last year, he had a brilliant start and then decided to try and overtake the entire field before the first corner, result scraped of his front wheel trying to stuff his mclaren where it didn’t belong.
Probably saw the race slipping away and snapped after losing 2 places going after webber then another in his botched attempt on Schumi. Webber was right, Lewis was driving like the checkered flag was around the next corner, he put it all on the line when people were still trying to get a feel for the track. It’s a lot like Vettel trying to force an overtake at the bus stop at Spa last year, he saw Webber and Lewis disappearing off the front and he got too aggressive trying to get around button. Hamilton sees this championship slipping away and he is trig to win it back in one race, I predict we will see more of this nonsense until the FIA drop a hammer on Lewis or until he is mathematically eliminated from the championship, then I imagine he will actually start to dominate.

I agree with all the comments that it was a great race but starting under the safety car and the amount of laps lost under it annoyed me. You can’t have a safety car because of wet weather only for drivers to come in for intermediates the minute the safety car goes in! Maybe I’m greedy.

I was hoping Schumacher could get a podium but it wasn’t to be. Button showed Hamilton that the longbow beats the crossbow.

After 7 races I think DRS is a trinket we don’t need. I’ve found myself really rooting for the driver ahead, hoping somehow he’ll stay in front. The overtake itself looks plain ugly.

Fantastic race and an unbelievable drive from Jenson. How much of Jenson’s win would you chalk up to the safety car bunching up the field following Heidfeld’s accident and allowing Jenson to close the gap to the front as opposed to Jenson’s blistering pace?

Totally. If in the end of season stats, Vettel has 13 or more poles, then it’s a foregone conclusion that he will have won the DWC. While the McLaren has good pace in race trim, the Red Bull’s acceleration out of corners is amazing, and should make it hard for the Mac to pass.

If LH kept winning, but SV was always second, it would take until the penultimate race for him to go ahead in the standings, and then only by 1 pt.

Vettel just needs to regularly and reliably score, and the DWC is his.

“Red Bull’s acceleration out of corners is amazing”
The banning of the overrun will reduce this hugely. This will damage all teams but should improve overtaking after slow corners.
We shall see who is affected the most.
Not just cars, but also drivers.
See James comments concerning Mark Webber v Seb Vettal last year.

How? Accelerating out of a corner should benon throttle and the diffuser should suck the car right down onto the track. Did you mean braking into a corner? There I could believe as off throttle the rear will go light and won’t be able to brake as late.

Im gonna become a broken record though, and repeat that people are wearing some serious rose colored glasses if they think the RB7 will suddenly be a dog when its two leading competitors use a similar or identical exhaust layout, and actually mclaren was a complete dog before they copied the RB7 exhaust, lest we forget. I see the most that will happen is that everyone stays in the same order but slower, but more probably Redbull wil see themselves extend their gap.

I’m not sure Jo compared to Monaco he seemed remarkedly chilled in the garage, loved the access to Mclaren and Red Bull during the break btw.
Of course the ideal solution for me is that he sticks it on pole when the red bull quali mode gets banned and then can do a Vettel and look falsely serene while driving at the front.

Hamilton must absolutely never, ever chill. All he needs is one or two good wins and all is forgotten. That’s what Vettel did last year after crashing into Webber and Button (not to mention crashing into Kubica the year before). The best drivers are racers and they crash sometimes!

While I think that was an absolutely fantastic race and agree with everyone that Jenson had a fantastic day at the office, I have to say I was left rather disappointed by the end result when the top four positions were decided entirely by DRS, completely annuling the skill the drivers had shown during the rest of the race.

Three questions spring to mind:

Would Button have been able to get to Vettel had DRS not allowed him to sail (sorry, poor word choice – he didn’t even have to move onto the wet stuff thanks to DRS) past Schumacher with no effort needed?

Would Schumacher have been on the podium were it not for DRS?

Why were the two DRS zones right after each other?

We saw a guaranteed flaw with that when Button had the option to open his DRS again on the start/finish straight AFTER overtaking Schumacher into the last chicane because he was still fractionally behind him (but on his way past) at the second DRS detection point whilst Schuey could not open his despite being the car behind going onto the start/finish straight.

It was a very exciting race but the skill was shown for 67/70 laps. The last three were all about the DRS, and while I like the concept, it was far too effective here and clearly the length of straight that it can be used for needs to be looked at.

And to add to the point of Button opening his DRS on the start straight, I just watched the highlights and Webber did the same after he overtook Schuey as well.

DRS is supposed to be an overtaking aid. In this case Webber’s second use of the DRS left Schuey unable to mount a challenge again. He actually caught him towards the end and only finished four tenths behind.

I think you could go a bit further and ask if Kobayashi was denied some points due to DRS as well. Sure the drag to the finish line looked great, but thanks to DRS it was a one-sided drag race.

I fully agree with the other points. KERS and the new tires are fine. They provide more strategies without providing an asymmetric advantage, like DRS does. I for one, hope the days of DRS are numbered.

On the Button point, I would love to see how many laps he deployed the DRS to get an idea of how many seconds were gifted to his chase for Vettel.

After overtaking the pair of Schumacher and Webber, it was surprising how he quickly closed down onto Vettel – i think the German was caught napping. It took him quite a few laps to up his speed and start matching JB. In any case, JB was in the DRS zone for only one lap before overtaking Vettel when the German made the mistake in the next series of corners. I would say the DRS was more usefull to JB in the Schumacher/Webber scrap than with Vettel.

WHile Im in the fence as far as DRS goes, DRS did what its supposed to do. It let a faster car make a pass. If Button had only passed MSC because of DRS, he wouldnt have been able to pull away from MSC and close to SV. Also, I dont think JB was ever close enough in the back straight to SV for him to be able to use the DRS. Give credit where its due people, JB earned it.

amazing drive by Jenson to win and he wasnt to blame for either incident with Alonso or Hamilton.
Hamilton for the second race running made some over ambitious moves, he hit Webber and i beleive would have been hit with a drive through penalty if he had contiuned in the race, he was lucky not to hit Schumacher and to hit your own team mate is poor stuff.

I noticed that too. At one point when Webber was chasing him he moved twice, but only small moves, enough to prevent Webber picking a side to attack but not enough to be an obvious penalty. Classic Schumacher, made me grin.

Re the three tenths, that does seem to be the gap over a single lap. However there are no points for qualifying, Sunday is where it matters and over race distance you’d have to say that time difference all but disappears.

What a race! Exactly what was required after the 2 hour hiatus – thought it’d never start.

Button – what a drive. How did he do it? That high downforce setup that everyone was criticising after qualifying suddenly looks a bit more sensible

Hamilton – it’s like he’s lost all the maturity and experience from the last four or five years. The McLaren looks so quick on Sundays, there’s no need to be so hot headed. That said, races are definitely more exciting when he’s still in them…

Schumacher – was cheering him on for a while there for the first time ever

Vettel – should have worked harder to make a bigger gap after the last safety car. Good to see he’s still human though.

Best race ever, even with the “rain stops play” period.
Good to see Vettel bottling it on the last lap, it wil give the other drivers some comfort that he is human and can definitely be beaten.
As for the coming together between Jenson and Lewis.
If LH had used his brain he would have known that JB would not see him in his mirrors. JB did look but at that point LH was following him and then he had to position his car for the next bend. LH should’ve tried to take him on the other side, rather than go for a gap that he knew would be disappearing. It’s not “cos your black” but because you keep making daft moves!
Great drive Jenson!

What a race, it had everything. Rain, the SC, Vettel in his usual position at the front and a two hour wait, then it all kicked off. One thing’s for sure Jenson is so not in Lewis’s shadow, not that I ever thought he was, this race proved him to be equal if not better than his team mate to everyone! Only disappointment was not seeing Schumacher on the podium. Thought Monaco was great, but Montreal is showing F1 is getting better with every race, can’t wait for Valencia!

JB is not equal to LH. Top three drivers right now are LH, SV, and FA, in whatever order you want. JB, MW, NR are a tier below, but still ahead of most in the pack. I am surprised by how poor Heidfeld has been this season.

You’re right JB is not equal to LH he is superior in my mind. However I do think Alonso is best driver on the grid. But my heart belongs to JB. Vettel is good and in time will be brilliant as is Hamilton if in the right frame of mind, which alas at present he isn’t. I also have a soft spot for MW and if Red Bull were behind him last year he would have been WDC!

Quite simply one of the best races I’ve ever watched..!! And absolute vindication for Jenson to all those out there who question his speed / ability. He is a tremendous racer, while perhaps maybe not as quick as his team mate over a single lap all of the time, he has a fantastic temperament and ability to get the best out of the car when those around him are unable to. Let’s just hope that with the ban on the off throtle exhausts coming for Silverstone, Mclaren can continue to reign in Red Bull and we can have a fight on our hands for the WDC yet..!!

I think faster cars or drivers shouldn’t have to be held up behind slower ones because it’s simply impossible to overtake.
That’s what DRS is intended to do. Give faster cars a chance to go by.
Ergo at the end of the race, faster cars/drivers have got position. I’ll point you to one Jenson Button.

Without the DRS in the dry, there would have been no passing. Don’t you remember the old days of dry race processions, I am so glad they are gone, and can’t belive I watched F1 all through the Noughties.

If the race was in the dry there would have been more overtakes thanks to DRS. The cars were passed on the straight and only because of the damp track did the move not always come off because the drivers locked their brakes.

Yes I’m curious about this one too. It doesn’t look like the FIA have released any documents with the details of those penalties yet.

Given that both Lewis and Jenson were under investigation I’m guessing that it must have been under the safety car at the start of the race, but the whole pack were bunched up so how did both McLarens manage to break the speed limit and no-one else?

What a race! I’m not sure where I stand on the JB / LH incident. My first impression was that Button moved over to squeeze Hamilton and so it was his (Button’s) fault. After the many replays, though, it looks less one-sided. Hamilton catches up quickly, as Button is moving to the left. Then, it seems that Hamilton tries to put his car into a gap that’s too narrow for it, and Button continues to move left. Hamilton was no way half-way along side, as his front wheel bumps JB’s rear wheel face on (which is probably why no damage to JB’s car). Ham is then pushed over into the wall. so maybe a racing incident, that one.

It will be interesting to see opinion on the Alonso / Button incident in the commnents here. I didn’t see enough of it to judge. Maybe I’ll watch some video tomorrow.

An amazing drive by Button – what did they do to that McLaren to get it to go like that?

I would ask the question why Hamilton was trying to go into a gap that was too small and closing – Button would obviously follow the racing line rather than simply let Hamilton by, teammate or not – so why didn’t Hamilton go by on the other side which would make more sense? Hamilton pushing too hard too soon is the way I see it, he needs to realise that races last more than the lap he is on. I thought he had added calmness to his driving last year and was so much better for it.

Me again, while I would agree that Lewis is faster than Button, I think he has lost the art of racing for a full grand prix ( for the monent:-)), he is so short term fixated. Maybe good for us racing fans which means he immediately trys to overtake in this race which was clearly going to have many opportunities. without crashing into Button he would have one I think.

I agree that if Hamilton calmed down then he likely would have walked away with the race win. He has so much driving skill that only Alonso is close to him but he really needs to sit back and concentrate on the mental side of the racing. He is the best overtaker in the field and doesn’t need to try and get it all done within the first ten laps.

I agree with you but at the time Lewis made the moves because all he could see was Vettel out front making a gap. Given Vettel’s previous race form you could forgive Hamilton a little bit for believing he needed to move forward fast….

Unfortunately his moves were not clean enough…

The move on Webber was all Ham’s fault, Webber gave him room but Ham had too much speed in the corner and oversteered into him. Such a shame as the margin was tiny.

With Button it was bad luck. As he came out of the final corner he had a great run on Button and quite rightly wanted to maximise the traction he had. Button was too far right initially so Ham went left, but the exact moment he went left Button started to move to the racing line and the gap disappeared. By then Ham was already committed. Button looked but didn’t see him. If Ham had waited for one second longer he could have seen the gap open on the right, but he was closing so fast he had to make a split second decision and went the wrong way…..which was the only gap available when he moved….such a shame.

A 2 hour wait in the middle, but what a race it finally became…maybe the best race I’ve ever seen. Great to see schumi fighting up the front. And what a worthy winner…..half a dozen trips through the pits, near race ending incidents, punctures, being last…. well done Jenson. Great win. Great race.

Great race but very frustrating use of the safety car! After the restart it clearly stayed out too long, so much so that the drivers pitted for intermediates straight after it came in. All in all though we were treated to a belter and it was fantastic to see Schumacher in the hunt, I hope it kick starts a good run of results for him! I felt that DRS really worked against him today, I think the second DRS zone should have had an activation point so the overtaken driver could fight back I hope they do something like that for Monza.

I am surprised that no-one went to slicks much earlier. I thought Button would repeat his Melbourne 2010 performance and move to slicks first, but everyone was slow to switch and Webber beat him to it.

James, could you please explain the speeding behind the safety car penalty. Both the McLarens were under investigation and Hamilton was only int he race for the SC start. So I assume the offences occurred during the first SC period. Can you please explain how it is possible to speed behind the safety car when all the cars are nose to tail in the snake.

I think this relates to cars catching up to the SC / snake. Drivers have a target time on their steering wheel displays that they should not beat, and I can only imagine that Button went faster than this target time when driving to catch up to the snake.

Double standards by Stewards. Jenson should have got a penalty. Had Lewis done the same mistake he would have definitely got one. Jenson’s move was similar to that of Micheal over Ruben in hungary 2010.

As James says here, Button was simply following the racing line that ALL other drivers were taking. If you compare this to Schumacher on Barichello, in that incident neither car was even close to the racing line.

To be generous to Lewis it was a racing incident. If I were to be a little more pragmatic I’d say Lewis took the wrong overtaking line.

You’re forgetting something… it was a wet race.
Basically MS closed the door knowing that RB was there. JB closed the door not knowing that LH was there. Have you looked through your rear view mirror on a rainy day? I’m pretty sure that if it wasn’t a wet race, JB wouldn’t close the door on LH.

“JB closed the door not knowing that LH was there” : really ? Lewis was all over Jenson for about a lap and then Jenson made a mistake and lost momentum and he didn’t expect Lewis to take the opportunity ? common man, It was a deliberate attempt to stop Lewis. No wonder Jenson apologized to Lewis after race.

You must be a very hardcore Hamilton fan! There is no way you can compare Schumi and Barry to todays incident. Schumi knew exactly where Barry was and made a very big, deliberate move to push him towards the wall. Button followed the racing line in poor visibility and the TV pictures make it look like he checks his mirror as Hamilton is slipstreaming him and as Lewis then pulls out just as Jenson returns to looking ahead. Why was Hamilton going for am ever closing gap that was not going to be there instead of going the other side? Simply Hamilton being rash and not thinking properly.

Vettel didn’t really have anything to do apart from back the field up then boot it so not a great race from him. Massa was having a good race till he got unlucky an aquaplaned.

To give Hamilton the benefit of the doubt – I think Button did stay right slightly longer than normal, precisely because he wanted to check his left mirror before moving towards the wall. And that drew Lewis into going for the pass on the left. Unfortunately they both started to move left at the same time; they were both heading for the accident at that point.

Great race, wonderful drive by both Button and Schumacher. Schumi today punched way above Mercedes’ weight.

I would like to disagree however with the argument made on the BBC that Button did not see Hamilton when they had their accident. You could see Button take a line slightly towards the center of the track compared to what Schumacher was doing in front of him. To me it seemed he was covering for Hamilton to the inside. Then when Hamilton came around the outside, you could see Button move slightly to the outside, using up his allowed one move. It was a small move but clearly visible, which means Button did see Hamilton coming.

And why would Hamilton choose to hit the wall and his team-mate instead of hitting the brakes is beyond me. He is too fast for his own good lately.

By the time he was alongside it was too late. If he braked, Button’s left rear would’ve broke LH’s front right, much like what happened to him in Monza last year.

Apparently the stewards looked at overlays from Button’s previous laps, and he was further to the right (his right) on that lap, so it’s not as though he was deviating from the previous line(s) he took on that section of track.

LH was just seriously PO’ed at Button getting past when he tangled with Schumacher, and wanted the place back right away. He has to stop thinking like that, and just let it come to him sometimes.

agree for me it ruined the race, i like watching a great defensive drive asmuch as a great attacking drive. the drs is a joke. was gutted seeing them steaming past michael at the end of the straights like he was in a gp2 car. no good at all.

How many seconds did Vettel lose to safety cars, he could easily have won by half a minute, but the 10 seconds lost by crash of Heidfeld really cost him. Still gained 18 points on the realistic title contenders on a weak circuit so not bad result overall.

How many seconds did Button lose to safety cars, 2 stops more than Vettel, 1 DT?
Yes, the car behind should have more advantage when the SC comes, especially if they are on the same strategy. But after the last stop, Vettel should try to open a bigger lead when Button was stuck behind Schumacher.. instead he was playing it safe, thus putting himself under pressure which eventually lost him the race win.
Basically, a genuine mistake by Vettel that cost him the race, not the SC.

Monaco was different, vettel was in te lead and we can only speclate about tyre performance, no one even expected Vettel to have kept Alonso and Button behind for the 10 laps that he did. However in Canada, he lost some 10s in last safety car and the only reason he made the error is the unfair advantage the following car would have had in the DRS zone, we saw how easily cars sailed past, thus Vettel actually had to increase the gap to more than 1s. Still consistency is the key and he was the most consistent driver.

As a long time Button fan and knowing his faults limitations and skills it was an awesome result, but as he said himself, I was pleased just to see him perform with verve for a change in conditions in which undoubtedly thrives.

It’s true that Jenson had an amazing race, but ramming his team mate and closing the door for Alonso wasn’t fair from him…he needs to be punished somehow; or loose time from this race or loose some grid placed in Spain next time!
I would prefer the first option as loosing grid places is nothing for Jenson, he won today after being last for a while! And then Schumacher would be 3rd which he deserves, he was amazing today, good performance from someone who won the title 7 times!

Eventhough Button is responsible for getting Alonso out of the race, still Ferrari needs to investigate if Domenicali really is the right person as team principal; all the world was talking about rain coming approx 20-25 minutes after start, still Ferrari chose to switch to intermediate tyres following another teams tactics – same story happened last year in the final race where Alonso lost amazing places and the title! Domenicalis only advantage is that he is Italian, but he is nothing compared to Christian Horner, Martin Whitmarsch or Ross Brawn who have indepedent tactics following a lot of scenarios!

That was an experience, well done the BBC for sticking with it. In doing so it became an event, those of us on Twitter had a great time keeping our spirits up during the red flag.
For me Jenson is driver of the day, but he is my fav driver so i would say that wouldn’t i.
I think he drove a fantastic race, at the end he chased Seb of the track, not everyone would think him capable of doing such a thing.
As for the happening with LH, we can debate till the cows come home so instead i’ll offer my own feelings as a fan of JB. If he did see Lewis and moved over to block him, knowing they might touch, i’m actually rather glad, it sends a signal – i’m not the push over you all think i am –
I know that may be wrong of me, but hey i want JB standing up and showing he’s no No 2 driver in his nature, physiologically i think that was a little important moment for JB (what do you think James)
Would like to say more but its midnight and i need sleep, will check back in tomorrow.
tvf

how buttons doesnt get a penalty and di resta did is a total disgrace. a bottle job from the fia. imagine being a fernando fan and flying out spending your money going to canada and see him race only for him to be taken out and the guy who did it get no penalty. i thought hamilton was a total idiot with his comments after monaco but now i agree he is being picked on. if it was him done what button did it would of been a penalty for sure. dont feel right with button winning getting off with that when lewis gets hammered in monaco for doing the same yet he will get all the credit for his win, his drive takin away the alonso dunt was mega but i go away feeling sorry for lewis which is something i thought i would never feel in my lifetime. fia are cowards.

What race were you watching? the only driver I can remeber passing two cars was Schumacher taking Massa and Kobayashi, Button passed Webber after he made a mistake at wall of champions, and then took schumacher a couple laps later

Totally agree with stupid steward inquiries.
It’s almost like a tag, inquiries.
A tyre punctual from a slight contact, inquiries.
A nudge resulting in a spin but nothing more, inquiries.
A crash but it was all part of racing anyway, nothing intentional, inquiries.

JEEZ FIA!!!!!!!! STOP YOUR DAMN INQUIRIES!!!!!!! THIS IS RACING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Great race, agree with most of the points and have some answers for you!

SC speed limit- drivers have a minimum lap time that they are allowed to acheive when the sc comes out -to stop them racing back to the pits before they get picked up. I assume they have a delta displayed on their dash so they can tell if they have to low down or not. Will only be a coincedence that it was both mclaren drivers.

Double DRS – apparantly, the system could not cope with 2 activation points (bizarre in the tech advanced world of f1) so did make it a bit unfair after the car had passed. Should learn for valencia, what about if they had combined the 2 zones so that the driver would have had to choose to keep it open and break earlier for last chicane to use it on the straight???

JB/FA – Lee mckenzie reporting that no action being taken, if they had, it could have been a 20 second penalty though

Brilliant win by Jenson, 6 pit stop visits and still wins, fantastic, may have to watch the race again tomorrow. The only down side to the race was Sebs negative look on his face post finish, apart from the obvious, another reason only became clear until I read the banning exhaust gases post. Seb I guess wanted to have a big advantage before Silverstone as from that the blown diffuser will be banned. I think he thinks he might perform a Jenson 2009 and lose a lot of ground and performance on the matter and have to fight for his life the rest of the year. This is going to be brilliant!!!

Fernando Alonso goes off makes a mistake in a Ferrari in the RAIN?!!? and this is “the man that ended schuey’s career”?!! on the other hand schuey drover like a stealth fighter holding off MUCH faster cars WITH DRS!

A great win for Button, quite possibly a career best drive and one where he was well out of his comfort zone. No amount of tidiness and elegance was going to win that race – it needed pure speed and big balls, and JB delivered.

There seems to be a lot of bickering going on about Button’s penalties, or lack thereof. It’s always going to be a judgement call, but I think there’s a tendency for fans to look at these incidents in more simplistic terms than the stewards will.

The clash with Hamilton, I would give Jenson the benefit of the doubt. Visibility was bad, when he looked in his mirror Lewis was still tucked in behind him and Button simply isn’t the kind of driver who’ll shove someone into the wall deliberately. What I would have to ask is, where did Lewis think he was going? Jenson was moving back onto the normal racing line and Lewis had a great run on him, but why go for the gap that’s shrinking? No driver is going to pull onto the wet line to defend the inside, that was where Lewis should’ve attacked. I just don’t think he’d thought it through. Had Button seen him, I suspect he’d have left him room and then tried to win the braking contest.

The Alonso incident is more complex and I don’t think any of the camera angles I’ve seen tell the whole story. We know from the chase camera that they get alongside and then Button fails to turn in. Alonso’s rear camera shows that Button had a very strong run on him and got properly alongside him, wheel to wheel. The six million dollar question has to be, did Button fail to turn in on his own, or was there a light tap that unsettled the car and prevented him from doing so?

To my mind, it’s not really possible to go two abreast through that chicane. Both drivers’ lines are compromised and contact is inevitable on either entry or exit. I thought about what I would do in that situation. It seems to me that the two cars were so close that it was really a 50/50 corner. Fernando must’ve seen Button there and Button was committed to the move. Do you back out and concede the position, or do you hold your ground and take your chances in the contact? In my opinion and experience, racers do the latter and it could’ve gone any way. They could’ve banged wheels and carried on up the road, or Button could’ve spun or had his front wing knocked off. As it turned out, Fernando was unlucky and ended up beached in what looked like a pretty healthy Ferrari.

I tend to agree with Martin Brundle, Alonso left enough room but when Jenson got up on the kerbing it made his car move sideways just enough to make contact with Alonso. It’s not like Jenson arrived with all 4 wheels locked solid and all crossed up. That’s what I would call a racing accident. The 2 drivers are well known quantities. Alonso is a very tough but fair competitor and Jenson is one of the coolest heads out there.

It is a catch 22. Lots of punters hate the DRS, but in reality unless they change the balance from areo to mechanical grip it is the only way it seems that drivers can overtake. It is part of the strategy now, let’s enjoy it for what it is.

While all of the drivers did a sterling job today in Canada (JB especially!!!) I think it is important to mention the great work of the trackside marshals who played a blinder to drain the standing water from the track during the redflag and also to clear the crash debris.

Indeed, they did a great job. However, you have to wonder about the fitness of the guys who have to actually run out on the track during a race. We clearly saw 2 different marshals falling flat on their faces. After Heidfeld drove over his front wing, that marshal was clearly in very poor physical shape, and for that reason put himself in danger.

Not at all happy about DRS though : some of the vision of cars simply sailing (no pun intended) past each other just looked wrong to me. And you’d have to wonder if Vettel even had a chance in regard to trying to hold off JB on that last lap. JB was already within a second which meant DRS would turbo him past on the way up to the chicane no probs at all and not a darn thing SV could’ve done to stop it.

Agreed. Was a bit like Formula Ford or Moto2/125 where the leader is actually disadvantaged by being in the lead. Only a matter of time before a leader just moves over then moves straight back under the rear-wing until the next DRS zone.

Wow, that was too crazy to analyse but ill add my tuppence worth on the main action

Button – Hamilton
As much as I hate the term I think it is a textbook “racing incident” both but at the same time neither are to blame. Button should have known he was coming, Hamilton should have been a bit more cautious and not forced his car into a bit of road that was always going to disappear.

Safety Cars
I didnt agree with starting the race behind the SC. Deploying it as a precaution when the deluge came was absolutly the right decision however. The length of time it took to bring it in was ridiculous though, a couple of times it came in and a mere 2 – 3 laps later guys were pitting for intermediates. I cant help but feel that the teams/drivers may have been sending out messages to try and prolong the safety car periods so that they could switch to inters quickly after.

DRS
I have been defensive of the DRS since its inception but today I think it didnt work, Schumacher and Kobayashi were robbed today. Neither was massivly slower than the person they were battling but were sitting ducks down the straight, the 2nd zone just meant that there was no opportunity to re-pass.

A key thing for me was Vettels restarts, we have seen it at the start of all the other races too but the amount he pulls away by on the first lap of a race / SC restart is remarkable.

Gutted for Schumi not to get a podium and for Di Reista not to finsh. That will have been a learning experience for Paul, half arsed looks up the inside always go wrong.

Also gutted for Heidfeld, am I the only one who thinks Kobayashi brake tested him or deliberatly accelerated later than normal?

Kobayashi did make a mistake in the Heidfeld incident, but didn’t look like he brake-checked him.

In the replay, he went a little deep into turn 2 – this put his outside tyres into the damp track, which caused him to slow down and accelerate later. Heidfeld accelerated at the normal point, as he had the normal tight line on the dry part of the track, so then ran straight up the back of Kobayashi.

From looking at replays, Kobayashi went slightly wide and got his left wheels off the racing line and onto the damp part of the track, which hampered his acceleration and unfortunately resulted in Heidfeld hitting the back of him. I’d say its just a racing incident.

great drive by schumacher..shame F1 thinks they need DRS…the way the bulls and macs mowed down schumacher on DRS really highlighted a huge problem with the system..it’s not based on skill, its based on a friggen paddle…skill is driving..not playstation..and im only 19..back to ya know, the human being doing the work.

Great race by Button! With this, it is pretty much curtains for the Scuderia this season. I simply don’t see them do what they did last year.And Lewis Hamilton, boy oh boy, what is wrong with this guy ? He really needs to hit the reset button (instead of hitting ‘Jenson’ Button!) and concentrate on some clean races.

Lastly, Schumacher gave us a glimpse of his old self today. Brilliant car control in what is clearly a car lacking downforce. He must be gutted being robbed of a definite podium thanks to a stupid DRS rule.

Nice race. Superb win for Button. Fed up with Hamilton though. He has no business banging into Webber – completely LHs mistake. A race ban or two would put some sense into head. Lost all respect although I am a LH fan…

There were both going into a corner. Hamilton said that Webber appeared to brake early and he [Hamilton] did everything he could to avoid the contact. As it was, it as slight but enough to spin Webber because of the wet. Were you equally fed up with when DiResta had contact and broke his wing? Or Sutil? The point is that there were many such collisions today, which was understandable given the conditions.

And btw, last year in Australia Webber ran into the back of Hamilton and cost him a couple of positions, under much better conditions. That was regarded as a racing incident.

Hi – It’s not about Suitl or Di Resta or some other driver!. I am a passionate LH fan and waking up all night (the race was at 2 am here in Japan) expectantly waiting for LH to show is racing skills and seeing him self destruct in less than 10 minutes is very disappointing to put it mildly. Had he been a bit patient he surely would have scored a heap of points. Just because he is the fastest driver doesn’t give him any right to force his way through as if others aren’t around. I disliked Senna and MS for that reason and being a LH fan it’s deja vu. Fanboy or not cannot support stupid driving: Monaco and now Canada.

I have always had an aversion to these Passing ZONES. I we HAVE to keep DRS, why not let DRS be enabled anywhere on the track, but for a limited amount of time, just like KERS?
Also hate that a defending car just falls behind the car ahead because he uses all/most his KERS up on one straight. Currently KERS is too puny to overtake a car unless the guy makes a mistake (eg. Schumy vs Kob and Massa tangle), so why not make DRS available (to all cars not just the the-arbitrary-1second-behind car) so they can use it when they want it- be it PASS or DEFEND? -still artificial because of the “time limit”, but driver makes decision when to use it and how much.

I don’t think I’d miss DRS “zones” if phased out in future as long as KERS gets more powerful.
thanks for your inputs

Was it just me, or did MSC just let JB by? JB got past MSC a lot easier than Webber. ITs almost like the 2 Merc teams got together and agreed to let JB have a go at SV, as MSC wasnt making up any ground.

Fantastic weekend for petrolheads – the final 2 hours of Le Mans was incredible and the Canadian GP was the icing on the cake. Its amazing how that circuit always delivers the goods when it comes to exciting races. FIA take note when you look for your sacrifice to the gods of petrodollars or new markets. Hands off Canada. The contrast between this race and the next one – which in my humble opinion is the worst race on the calendar in a country that already has one GP should be instructive.

I cannot believe Jenson did what he did. It was so out of character for him to rocket through the field like that. McLaren must be chuffed. They look to be the only team with two genuine championship caliber drivers. Lewis will be Lewis and will occasionally contrive to sabotage his own seasons but nobody can deny his raw pace. Over the last 2 races it certainly seems like Jenson has stepped up a notch and added a much needed bit of aggression that he’s always lacked – even in his championship season.

What I saw in attendance at the Canadian GP was a superb drive by Button, more aggressive than he has ever done, and he made his luck. He fully deserved this win. He has now equalled James Hunt’s tally. Also Schumacher did a fabulous pass on Mass and Koby

Great race.. BUT the rules on the second DRS Zone were a JOKE to say the least. Once a car was passed on the long straight (which was the most likely place to happen), the car that was just passed had no chance of fighting back. This i think needs to change if there are to be multiple DRS zones.

Despite the safety cars, red flag, incidents, penalties, DRS, stewards’ inquiries etc etc, and no matter who one was cheering for, it was a great race. Period. Maybe one of the most entertaining ever. That this has been lost on so many who prefer to complain or even claim the race was ruined by one thing or another boggles the mind.

I believe Button would have passed Vettel anyway with the DRS on, Seb tried to overdrive it and create an impossible gap at that stage to stay clear of DRS on the last straight. The pressure was created by DRS, too many safety cars and not pushing early in the last stint and create the needed gap to stay clear of DRS… of course a superb drive by Button.

What a difference 12 months makes. I remember after Turkey 10, all the LH and JB fans saying the Mac boys would never get themselves into this position because they are too professional. LH is the true crash kid this year.

If Lewis had crashed into Alonso like Jenson had, he would have received a race ban from the stewards. Lewis had better realize that he can’t do the same as others, because their is a different and more harsher standard for him.

Things go up and down. Lewis was super fast and would have won the race today.

His judgement was off with Mark Webber. Although he had a run on Button, I think Button knew it but was hoping Hamilton would have backed off if he kept his line.

If any, it was really his incident with Mark Webber which made Lewis look a bit bad today.

Lewis will bounce back. He’s a racer. Kudos to Button though – he has shown the sheer speed in the past 2 races (Monaco and Canada). Mclaren seems to be having the race package, but not the qualifying package.

The stewarding this year is a disgrace. So is the commentating. I bet a tenner that if Hamilton was in d position of “not seeing” his team mate and knocking him into a wall, and then later taking out Ferrari’s favourite son, in spite of how far up d road he is, he would have been given a black flag and a race ban. Coulthard immediately says the collision between Alonso and Button is a racing incident but if it were Hamilton, he would have been talking up a penalty. James, does it make sense that someone is let off the hook cos “he is not the type of person that would normally push someone into a wall?” I see a lot of double standards here and it would do the integrity of the BBC a lot of good to ensure that the commentators are neutral.

It seems like just for being who he is, Hamilton gets blamed. Niki Lauda comes out again to say that Hamilton should be punished. It is obvious there is a crusade against Hamilton. For trying to overtake ur team mate and getting shoved into the wall, he gets slated. Where is the consistency?????

Boring because, for the first time since the schumi era, a driver is completely dominating every part of the weekend (Vettel with all but one pole, 5 race wins, 2 second places, and more than a 2 race victory lead in points over anyone else). By almost everyone’s account, the championship has already been decided, and yet…

This is the most exciting season ever. I cannot remember another season with so much intrigue, unpredictability, and general audience enthusiasm every single race. Has their been a race thus far in 2011 that has rated below an 8.0 on the excitement scale? Sure, every season has two, three, or four great races. But nothing like the consistent quality of races we have witnessed this year. What has been the most boring race this year? Turkey?

I think part of this is because so many drivers have been able to shine and feature in a race both from the top 5 teams and also those down the order. No matter which team or driver you root for, you have had something to cheer about this season.
1. Vettel’s dominance thus far this season.
2. Webber’s drive to the podium in China.
3. Hamilton’s comeback win in China and challenge for the win in Spain.
4. Button’s fabulous win in Canada.
5. Alonso’s race in Turkey and second in Monaco.
6. Massa’s China race and beating Kobi to the line in Canada.
7. Rosberg’s leading of the race in China.
8. Schumacher narrowly missing a podium after a great drive in Canada.
9. Heidfeld’s start and podium in Malaysia and drive through field in Spain.
10. Petrov’s podium in Australia.
11. Barrichello (nothing yet I guess except for points in Monaco)
12. Maldonado’ consistent Monaco drive until clash with Hamilton.
14. Sutil (nothing much yet either)
15. di Resta’s out qualifying of Sutil and impressive race pace.
16. Kobayashi’s consistent passing throughout season, momentary second in Canada and drive through the field in Turkey.
17. Perez’s one tire stop in Australia.
18. Buemi’s qualifying and great drive up the field in Turkey
19. Alguersuari’s points finish in Canada
20. Kovalaninen finishing in front of midfield runners purely on pace.
21. Trulli (maybe nothing yet either)
22. Karthikeyan’s Canada finish (before post-race penalty)
23. Liuzzi’s 13th place in Canada.
24. Glock’s qualifying and race in Monaco until his car broke.
25. D’Ambrosio (hasn’t gotten kicked out of his seat yet)

Fantastic drive from Button, he’s had a poor season really but this was a brilliant win. Genuinely.

BUT, the move he pulled on Hamilton should have been punished. It was frankly astonishing that he wasn’t. If he couldnt see him, why did he look in his mirrors moments before squeezing him into the wall?

Hamilton was a bit over zealous with Webber (although i doubt a touch as light as that in the dry would have resulted in Webber spinning).

But can you imagine if Hamilton had squeezed Button into the wall and spun Alonso out of the race?! Are you telling me he wouldnt have had a penalty?! Unbelievable.

It was once again a case of drivers being stereotyped by commentators and drivers et al.

Lauda described Hamilton’s move – confirmed by the stewards as being Button’s fault – as being worthy of a race ban?

That sums up the majority of the F1 circus’ opinion. That Hamilton is guilty until proven otherwise.

I too thought that button was in the wrong, for me he made the move to left suddenly and slightly earlier than he needed to for the racing line.

Like your comments about the drivers with Button being smooth and a very good description of Vettel being metronomic and precise. I dont think Alonso is the fastest though however, I think Lewis is but as you say causes to many accidents. Fernando is the most complete, he has some of Button’s Smoothness, some of Vettel’s preciseness and some of Hamilton’s speed.

Sorry, i don’t think my sarcasm translated very well. I was referring to certain manufactured ‘truths’ in the pit lane. Commentators too readily wheel out the same old stereotypes when referring to drivers. Some tags seem to stick, even if inaccurate, purely because it fits into the F1 ‘script’.

Pretty hard to fathom how JB could have seen Captain Chaos behind him. Its raining, visors are wet, mirrors are wet, there’s a rooster tail behind you, you’re driving on the racing line when someone comes up and nails you from behind! JB should have stayed on the racing line. Oh hang on, he did. Webber should have given CC racing room. Oh hang on, he did. I was pleased for the safety of the other competitors when CC retired. Would have been nice to see Schumi make the podium but it wasn’t to be. He’ll get there when he’s good enough I suppose. Great race.

Captain Chaos – I love that. Theres 2 ways of looking at Lewis: firstly as a calculated driver who sees a small chance of an overtake and goes for it – sometimes wrongly. And Secondly, as an absolute looney who flings is by going into a corner like a child on a computer game. Personally, I think Lewis is rash. Trying a move like that on a backmarker, yes! Trying it on your team mate in those conditions, noooooooooo.

He needs to calm down and calculate the whole race in his mind, not just the next 30 seconds.

i felt robbed! what was the stewards thinking, the restart was crazy, the safety car was out too long and all in the name of safety. so then they activate the DRS? this not only made overtaking to easy, but almost caused 2 crashes. too much DRS is making racing false & shouldn’t be turned on during the race as its unfair to drivers who worked their butt’s off in slower cars while the conditions are tricky then to give everyone else who messed up a free ticket to pass.
someone says it allows the true faster cars to come home first, not when its been down to driver skill to get up front.
ok, i’m a shumi fan, but KK suffered & others.

please FIA, don’t turn the DRS on 2/3 of the way through the race. it ruined a great race & it was dangerous!

In the immediate aftermath of the race, there would be little hesitation in calling this a classic. However, adreanline removed, and upon reflection, the race leaves a very sour taste in one’s mouth.

Firstly, DRS needs to be banned. I must state that before, I had no problem with processional races so my viewpoint may be biased. In my view, if a fast car was behind a slower car, then this was due to a reason. A mistake or a bad strategy call and not the massive injustice that some perceived.

They had no right to get past and for every “Petrov on Alonso”, there was a Hamilton on Rosberg or an example of an overtaking piece of skill which rendered you breathless. And it meant something.

These days, races are becoming less a factor of driver skill but more a classification of the fastest car. Take for example MSC. I have little doubt that Button would have found a way past given his speed without DRS, but would Webber? Probably not, and therefore a sterling drive which should have resulted in a podium did not due to the ability of a driver to push a button, and even when it goes wrong, he can do it again. And again. And again. Until it finally is correct and his speed pulls him away. However, in my view, that is what qualifying is for.

Maybe DRS had its place in the 2010 F1 races, but it certainly doesn’t in 2011 where tyres afford overtaking opportunities without the ability to breeze by on a straight thanks to a button. (And this is not like the Turbo boost, as it is only available to one party.)

Secondly, in my view, there is little doubt that Lewis Hamilton’s overtake of Mark Webber deserved a penalty. Webber gave him room, but Hamilton made a mistake and took out Webber. Surely, that is the definition of an avoidable accident which is worthy of punishment. Meanwhile, in Monaco I would argue that Massa and Maldonado left no room and therefore were more guilty than Hamilton in these situations.

Similarly, would Jenson Button not have been penalised in Monaco? His three incidents (De La Rosa included) were all less clear cut but there appears to be no consistency in stewarding and that is the major issue.

Finally, why wasn’t MSC penalised for making a second move alongside Hamilton in the first phase. Surely that is the epitome of a move which is against the regulations.

Thirdly, whilst it was totally the correct call to red flag the race it was equally incorrect to spend so long behind the safety car. Whilst F1 cars are the best hoovers available and a few laps behind the SC are required to rid the track of standing water, the SC should not be used to garnish intermediate conditions and provide perfect visibility. It is either safe to race or not. Aside from two or three laps to get drivers adjusted, the SC should not be used.

The fact is that F1 is in a bind. Its new racing is creating so much drama that it is perfect for the mobile world and is creating a new era of fans who will help to grow the sport and the teams’ bank balances. However, all this comes at the risk of angering F1 purists who find it all a bit synthetic. It’s a very difficult call and not one I would want to make.

I am confused. The stewards have spoken and so be it. But what is all this talk about racing lines? Can a driver sort of own a certain part of the track, like a BMW driver in the outside lane of a motorway?

Everybody says that Button, who was so very impressive yesterday – at least for ten laps – was on the racing line. I’m not so sure. If James will forgive me pasting in a link:

Two pictures which to me show that this magic racing line tends to vary, and by over a car’s width, during the race.

I’m not suggesting JB was at fault. However, I would suggest that for the balance of the race, almost all cars, when not trying to pass or defend a line, left enough room on the left for another car to pass. Even those that didn’t would have allowed to car to pass with wheels on the green stuff.

So what is this racing line? Does the car in front have squatters’ rights to it wherever he wants it to be?

LH was in a faster car (or driving the same car faster I suppose), saw the car in front make a mistake and went for it. If that leads to criticism then this is not the sort of F1 I want to see.

I cannot support the suggesting that this was the best race ever. There was a final sprint that was thrilling in the extreme, and well done to Button, but was it enough to cancel out the interminable safety car laps?

Vettel’s post race response pushed him up in my estimation. I accept that it was the only conclusion for anyone watching it but that has never bothered drivers before in post race interviews. The lad will learn.

Everybody says that Seb is cracked but he simply made a mistake when pushed as much as he can to maintain the gap to Jenson. At that point of the race McLaren was simply faster than the Red Bull and it was curcial to have a certain gap before the DRS zone where Jenson may got him too. Seb just tried to be push over the limit. He still did not finished a race below than second this year. Maybe that is why some people would like to see him cracked…

I agree with you comment Andrad. There seems to be quite an amount of vitriol directed towards Vettel, and I can’t really work out why. In Australia, he’s hated here simply for beating Webber. It seems that in the UK, much the same for beating Hamilton. Or maybe, everyone suffers from a bit of tall poppy syndrome. Lots of talk about Vettel’s dominance being a disgrace etc, but I don’t remember the same sort of words being said about Button in ’09.
I’ve never been a Vettel fan, but this year, the hatred towards him has driven me to support the guy.
Andrad.

What a race ! What a race! Button drove very well he was lapping significantly faster than the RED BULLs as some point, he truly deserves the win.

Michael Schumacher had a very exciting weekend , a very strong performance by him he really took the fight to the RED BULLS. I hope he carries this form to the next races to come.
His pace in qualifying wasnt bad either considering that he wasnt that far off from his teammate ,actually there was nothing between them lap time wise. Maybe things are starting to look up who knows. It was really great to see him in the hunt again.

Does anyone know what his pace was towards the end of the race compared to the top three?

Fantastic race. I thoroughly enjoyed the Button win, and hope that Hamilton will learn from it the virtue of patience.

One point on which I’m curious, should the FIA Driver Steward (Emerson Fittipaldi) really be discussing his opinions on the acceptability of individual drivers’ racing styles with the press before the race ?

Great race, although the length of time behind safety cars blunted the excitement somewhat.

Excellent driving from all involved. Very few incidents when you consider the changeable conditions.

Another excellent win for JB. You have to say that even though his wins have depended on a degree of luck, they are always hard fought and well deserved. Canada 2011 was no exception. I was genuinely elated by it. I think the incident with Alonso was unfortunate, but I think it was a reasonable passing opportunity were a lesser opponent would probably have yielded.

It was fantastic to see Schumacher back on form. Whatever you say about DRS he made it very difficult for the other cars to get past. When he was the faster car he pounced on his opportunities and made the most of them. He deserved a podium today, but to be fair so did Webber who also drove a great race after being compromised in the first lap.

Vettel only made one mistake, unfortunately for him it was at the worst possible moment. Looking at the laps leading up to this, with the pressure JB was applying, he was starting to get a bit ragged.

I just don’t know what to make of Hamilton at the moment. He is exciting to watch, and I think that we have to be careful of wanting our drivers to be too sanitised. Aggression is a good thing, but I do think that he under estimates his opponents and assumes that they are going to give way. In that sense I think he is a little arrogant about the way he goes racing and probably needs to change his approach a little. After his comments at Monaco I will never be able to support Hamilton as a driver, but I think he would have been on the top step today but for the incident with Button.

James, did you notice the difference in wing angles between Red Bull and Mclaren? It looked as though RBR was almost on Monza levels of downforce. Perhaps that explains the relatively poor traction Webber had to some of the other cars.

A fun race. Let me just add to the chorus of people complaining about DRS.

The issue is not so much the existence of DRS as the way it is implemented. If it merely allows the car behind to get level with the car in front, fine. But if it allows the car behind to sail straight past and switch back to the racing line before the corner, it spoils the racing and deprives us of a genuine contest. That’s what we saw today.

A hardcore vettel n alonso fan here, LH is really unfairly treated, bbc seams to be on a mission to cause a rift between LH and his mclaren team, james also seams to either be haveing an unhealthy dislike for the kid or he’s just trying to pick on him like so many others without really knowing why

Very enthralling finish to the race, and very pleased for Jenson to win and Vettle to crack/run out of luck a little – even although he still extended his championship lead.

However very disapointed to see the race starting under the safety car and then following the restart even more disapointed to see the safety car stay out until there was practically a dry line emerging – and most driver going in for inters within a couple laps. Why are the FIA so conservative when it comes to rain. Rain consistently provides the most enthralling action yet on the few times it does happen the ‘elf and safety mob come out and say its too wet – yet Bernie wants to bring in sprinklers HAHAHA!
Last time I checked F1 is not a dry weather sport and the cars should be able to run in wet weather conditions – of course they will be more geared to dry weather running but at least they need to be able to run in the wet.

One final point. Nice to see McLaren making a hash of it yet again. Retiring Hamilton for a puncture is brilliant. They are surely running out of ideas how to mess up a drivers race now thou?

What a race! Was worth waiting for it for hours when the rain poured down.

Congrats to Jenson! A drive like this surely makes me to say he was a worthy 2009 WC in-spite of brawn being a superior car.

Schumacher – Oh boy, give this man a wet track and he will show you time and again how to drive a slow car into a race winning one. If the track was still wet till the end, Schumi would have certainly challenged Vettel, and what a battle that would have been, young ‘schumi’ vs the rain master.
I was really gutted to see him lose the podium place due to DRS, which left him hapless in spite of his superior defensive driving (the art of defensive driving will die thanks to DRS).

Hamilton- you are no Senna. Think & drive, and don’t try to be too exuberant. U cant win a race in one lap. I still have a lot of respect for him as he is clearly an exciting driver to watch.

Alonso – still needs to convince me he is good in wets.

All in all, I was glad to watch this race, which will surely be remembered as one of the classics.

However… Does anyone else think it is getting a little bit ridiculous for the number of investigations by the stewards that are happening these days? On TV it’s a constant stream of “collision betwen X an Y being investigated”. This is motor racing. Incidents happen. Why does every one have to be investigated?

(1) Hamilton-Button – impossible to say it was Button’s fault given (i) lack of visibility meant no way one could be sure Button had seen Hamilton; and (ii) Button kept on racing line. Driving at 150mph+ with no visibility in the wet, the driver who does something unexpected – i.e. Hamilton, here – takes a massive risk. Moreover, the incident was exactly the same as one constantly sees with Hamilton – not an overtaking move in any real sense, just putting his nose alongside someone’s rear tyre and hoping that they’ll jump out of the way. It’s bad enough in the dry, but it’s madness in the wet: you’re banking not only on the other driver to be cooperative, but also on the other driver being hyper-aware of where you are. Do not be fooled by Button’s ‘apology’ – Button / Mclaren well knew that Hamilton was at risk of a further reprimand if not a race suspension, so Mclaren could not afford for Button to give a strong view re Hamilton’s antics.

(2) Alonso-Button. Button had the corner, gave Alonso as much room as possible by going right up on the kerb. Alonso did out-brake Button, but was on the outside – no room for both to go through the chicane. I’d attribute blame – 60% Alonso / 40% Button, but clearly a racing incident rather than unfair driving of any sort. NB, there was little prospect of Button getting penalised by the time the matter got before the stewards – a penalty would have simply handed 10 more points to Vettel and that’s hardly in Alonso/Ferrari’s interest, so they were likely happy enough to say racing incident. NB2, Alonso and Button actually get on reasonably well. NB3, past history shows Button as a conspicuously fair driver – he’s got a little bit of capital in the bank with the stewards (contrast e.g. Hamilton).

So what you’re saying Adrian is that overtakes have to be done and dusted on the straight and the car has to be clearly in front before the corner.

Everyone in F1 is crying out for overtaking yet people like yourself only want it done in a certain fashion where it’s clean and safe.

Once again, that is not F1! It’s not meant to be easy and there are supposed to be risks involved. That’s why it’s so exciting to see an overtake through a corner.

Ask yourself this: Do you get excited when someone drives straight around the car infront having used DRS? I don’t. It’s pathetic and cheating to an extent. What gets me excited is when someone passes the car infront by late braking or daring dart down the inside of a high speed corner.

Once again Lewis comes off second best for trying to overtake. If I were him, I wouldn’t bother any more.

If you re-read my post, you’ll see I have no problem with hard racing, nor any problem that on occasion this will result in contact. I’m perfectly happy that e.g. Alonso-Button was a racing incident.

My problem with Lewis’ overtaking is not that it’s necessarily dangerous, but rather that he is constantly putting his nose in places where he is relying either on the other car to jump out of the way or there’s inevitably going to be contact. The incidents that I have in mind are not ones where Lewis arrives at a corner side-by-side with another car, but rather where he punts the rear corner of the other car. It’s not that it’s dangerous, but rather that it’s unfair and often counterproductive (and hardly a demonstration of skilled overtaking). In the present case, it was not only both of those but also pretty stupid given the probability that the car in front would not see him coming and also given that the car in front is his teammate. It’s hardly accidental that not only the stewards, but also the luminaries of the sport are lining up to tell Lewis to calm down (to put it at its lowest) – e.g. Stirling Moss, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Stewart etc. all of whom were hard racers (well maybe Lauda wasn’t a ‘hard racer’…) at a time when the sport was truly dangerous (as Lauda in particular well knows).

“constantly putting his nose in places where he is relying either on the other car to jump out of the way or there’s inevitably going to be contact”

That just simply isn’t true. Maybe you should stop listening to Fittipaldi & Lauda and come up with your own conclusions.

I have no quarrels with the attempted overtake on Webber, it was far too advantageous given the conditions. However, Hamilton isn’t the only one that’s tried an ambitious overtake before and given the time, I’m sure I could find examples for every driver on the grid (except Vettel who doesn’t need to overtake). Does anyone remember the pass Hamilton made on Raikkonen in 2007 at Monza where he was about 50 metres back. Don’t recall many compaints back then.

Lauda is a hypocrite anyway. He’s applauded Hamilton’s aggressive driving style many a time before.

I just think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion and that the level of abuse he gets is undeserved. Let’s face it, we’re really only talking about the last 2 races, aren’t we. Monaco is a farce and he wasn’t the only driver who attempted an overtake (look at DiResta’s move at the hairpin which was much more ambitious than Lewis’ – yet does he receive the same amount of criticism? NO). I really can’t blame any driver who spends 30 laps behind a car which is clearly slower and then resorts to a risk.

The end result was brilliant but that doesn’t excuse the so many rubbish decisions that skewed tha race

Why on earth did the race start behind a safety car? Have none of the current rulers ever seen any of Senna’s wet races?????
To see the cars lap after lap following a safety car until the track became suitable fo intermediates was just ridiculous, what is the race director on?????

Who knows how the race would have panned out had it been run under the same rules as the greatest of all wet races in Donington???

Last point, if the main problem is the cars plank under the body when it’s wet then why don’t the FIA bring in a rule that should in be deemed a wet race that the cars have to raise their ride height by an inch or two (all cars have both brakes and accelerators), this would show those who have the ultimate skill

you are 100% right, I also have difficulties understanding the excitement about yesterdays race. I was pretty frustrated about the way the race was controlled by Charlie and his team, just like a bad referee ruining a great soccer game.

I sat glued to the BBC coverage from start to finish. loved the racing,what a mix of rain, not knowing how the Perell wets would handle, drivers out driving their cars, DRS, a marshall falling on track in front of oncoming cars…. frightening. MSc getting to show his wet weather skills and cunning again, a last minute lock up by Seb causing him to leave the dry line.
Best overtake for me… Jenson swinging onto the (very) wet line to go past Mark Webber while on slick tyres, esp as Mark had a moment as Jenson went past him.

Also praise to Martin Brundle and David Coulthard for the great ‘fill’ during the red flag period.
Another Bafta maybe?

Surely the amount of time behind the safety car could be negated by the use of cranes a la Monaco? The stewards at Monaco seem to be able to clean cars out of the way and off the track so much quicker than anywhere else. Especially at places like Montreal and Valencia, Singapore and other street circuits the use of cranes would mean less laps behind the safety car?

I wondered if you happened upon any information as to why the Red Bulls were so much faster than everyone else on full wets in the wet? As the track dried the gap in speed closed but clearly Vettel and Webber were really fast in the rain.

I only enjoyed this race because of Schumacher driving like old, and because Vettel didn’t win (Your good Seb your just nowhere near as good as your car is). Button was lucky today, for me, Hamilton was in a blind spot somewhat and should have braked, but Button I feel caused the collision with Alonso. Button could have given a little more room, he would have lost the corner. Alonso hardly closed, staying on the outside, and still got punted off.. it wasn’t even a side by side collision here…Button hit his rear tire. I do like Jenson, but he got lucky today. Alonso and Hamilton would have beaten him had there been no collisions.

On a side note, another instance (There was a race last year also) where the safety car was out longer than it should be…I think it could have gone in on lap 31 instead of lap 35. Come on…it was less wet than the early part of the race. Maybe I was more irked because it was past 4am…but if we are watching from 1am to 6am on Monday morning I wish they’d at least let us see some action.

Is anyone else a bit dissapointed in the Stewards being a bit soft concerning race starts, safety cars with respect to the rain.

Yes it’s dangerous but this is where we use to get random results. This way the better cars still managed to filter their way into the front. And the results turn out to be something similar to a dry race

Look at it this way, in the last 2 to 3 seasons, if you look at the top drivers I am sure Vettel and Hamilton have been involved in the most crashes, and probably Alonso too. Who are the best drivers on the grid again? Aaaahah, the same guys! It happens to the best of them and that’s the whole beauty of racing. I for one would not have it any other way.

Lewis is going through a rough patch right now where everything appears to be going wrong for him but this too will pass and I am sure one or two good races are all it will take to turn his season around. Didn’t we all think that Vettel’s and Alonso’s world championship chances were all but over after Spar last year? Look how that turned out.

Every season I bemoan the policing of the sporting regulations. Whilst I understand that the race stewards are privy to far more information than the typical “armchair enthusiast” I think if you ran a pole questioning if there was “fair and consistent application of the rules” the results would be a landslide.

It was an interesting race, marred again by inconsistencies in the application of the sporting regs and too much time behind the safety car.

Are all the people who are agnry about Kobayashi and Schumi loosing out feeling that way because their favoured drivers lost out due to DRS having got into those places “without using DRS”? I mean did Schumi not use any DRS to get into second to start with?

Everyone had DRS and you only use it if you are within 1 second of the car in front through the detection zone. To get to within 1 second you generally have to be faster than the guy in front.

Kobayashi also had DRS and could not use it at the restart against Vettel. Why? Because he was no quick enough and ultimately that is the reason why he could not hold on to second, not the fact that those behind him used DRS. If he was quick enough, he should have pulled away.

If I have to choose between races where a clearly faster car can not overtake (e.g. Abu Dhabi last year) and one like yesterday where overtaking happens, I choose overtaking any day.

“Are all the people who are agnry about Kobayashi and Schumi loosing out feeling that way because their favoured drivers lost out due to DRS having got into those places “without using DRS”? I mean did Schumi not use any DRS to get into second to start with?”

I am the complete opposite of a Schumacher fan, but I was willing him onto the podium, only for DRS to spoil it. Schumacher drove a great race and deserved a podium.

Also Schumacher didn’t use DRS much, if at all as the device was only enabled later on in the race.

Schumacher has struggled on ultimate 1 lap pace compared to Rosberg since he has been back but most of the time his race pace as been on par.

Schumacher was in second when the Saftey car went in, the track was dry and very green and it just looked like he had very little grip, braking so early into corners etc, does Schumacher have a hard time getting the Mercedes tyres up to temperature? as Rosberg seems to be able to go alot quicker initially, if this is the case why is that?

This race could have been a great one, sadly, DRS took away quite a lot…again. Just to illustrate my point, think about Massa.

The guy bangs it into the wall, he is very lucky to have only his front wing damaged. But then what? He can use his magic button to gain on drivers that did NOT eff up.

Probably many would like to shut my mouth and say that Button passing Vettel on the final lap was not a DRS overtake. But how did Button get close enough to pressurise Vettel? He had the speed to close up on Webber and Schuey, good job. But the actual overtaking was quite straight forward flying by, therefore the last lap drama could only happen with the help of DRS.

On this site, James has posted some statsistics about the number of DRS overtakes vs Non-DRS overtakes. In my opinion, it is pointless to make such difference. One way or another, DRS affects the outcome of the race. Whether you gained a tiny fraction of time needed to stay ahed when making a pitstop or sitting by on the final lap, doesnt really matter.

This DRS seems to be there only to make life easy for the best cars. You know, when driving Williams or even a Sauber, there is nothing to DEERRRSSS anyway, because normally they never make it to that 1 second gate to attack (f.ex) RedBull or a McLaren. But the other way round, it works perfectly and really helps to smooth out bad tactical decisions, driver errors (and so on) made by the “fast but careless”. Surprises from the midfield teams? Forget about it, you are easy meat now.

Thing is, these top teams dont need that extra boost. Let them race on equal basis. The nature of the formualtion “1 second gap gives you DRS” rules out possibility to say that the rules are same for everyone.

Some non-DRS thoughts:
Too many safety car periods only because of heavy rain. The drivers have pedals to adjust speed according to the conditions. If a driver feels that poor visibililty and slippery track is too dangerous, they should make the decision to pull off the circuit and step out. No need to interrupt racing with red flags or safety car all the time, the track was never completely blocked.

“Too many safety car periods only because of heavy rain. The drivers have pedals to adjust speed according to the conditions. If a driver feels that poor visibililty and slippery track is too dangerous, they should make the decision to pull off the circuit and step out. No need to interrupt racing with red flags or safety car all the time, the track was never completely blocked.”
——————————————–

then this shows just how little you actually know about racing.

there is no way they could have continued racing in the heavy rain sunday. there was so much standing water around the track that we almost certainly would have had cars going off behind the safety car regardless of how slow they were going.

in conditions like that it isn’t a case of simply slowing down, its a case of the tyres not been able to handle the amount of water & this is when you get aquaplaning.

in japan (where i did some racing 10+yrs back) we used to have monsoon tyres because we got so much heavy rain over there. These tyres also had limits but would be suitable 90% of the time.

good year brought monsson tyres in 96-98 but they were never required so bridgestone/michelin & now pirelli didn’t/dont bother with the additional expence of manufacturer/transportation of something which may only get used once every 2-3yrs if that often.

as to visibility, again you clearly have never done 190mph when you can’t see your own front wheels.

all the fans who think the safety car/red flag was unnecisary on sunday would very quickly change there mind if they even tried racing anything at speed in similar conditions & it seriously annoys me when people try to think they know better than the drivers when it comes to those conditions!

I’ve been following F1 for almost 30 years now,I love the sport more than anything in the world. F1 has evolved in so many positive ways (technically, safety,..) but as a pure racing fan, I get a bit sad these days. F1 is becoming a fully orchestrated multi-billion dollar circus from A to Z that has to deliver, no matter what. The degree of race control that is taking place nowadays, together with the other technical “manipulations” are making the sport to artificial and prudent. But so few fans seem to bother and my grandmother is starting to love F1, so why bother myself huh Of course, this is only my thought, but I had to let it out. Anyway, thanks James for your wonderful website, and my compliments to Jenson, he did a great job yesterday.

I think many people who are in the sport or who follow the sport don’t understand Hamilton in exactly the same way they(the many people) didn’t understand Senna. Hamilton is an attacking, forceful driver with great speed and even better car control. He is a driver with overtaking ability that is second to none compared with other great drivers over the last 15-20 years at least. I think people(including some of his fellow drivers) need to show more respect of him and his abilities. They(the drivers) also need to learn when the game is up against Hamilton because he usually overtakes the first time he has got a chance to. Vettel knew the game was up in China.

Button’s victory was one of the best in his career, but he was involved in two questionable incidents, which on another day could have been penalised. The incident with Hamilton didn’t look good and last year a precedence was set in Hungary in the incident involving Barrichello and Schumacher. As well as this, Button saying that I couldn’t see him(Hamilton) in my mirrors was a very lame excuse. In my eyes, he should have received the bad sportsmanship flag or a drive-through penalty. The incident with Alonso was not a very good one at all. You could have said that Button had the better line and that Alonso turned in quicker, but the fact of the matter is that Button clipped the back of the Ferrari and was nowhere near to being in front of Alonso, drive-through or stop-and-go penalty in my book. That is my view on Button.

The best good news story of the race was the impressive performance of Schumacher. His performance is the type of performance that will give him a huge chunk of confidence that he can still do it at an extremely high level. I think Rosberg is now going to find it tough against him and if Mercedes get into a position to win a race or two, I think Michael will win, not Nico.

It was easily the best race in a few years. A lot of those drivers drove their best today.
As a hardcore Schumi fan, it was veryyyyyy exciting to see him kicking a$$ left, right and center.
His over-takings were textbook. He was patient and got good timing, very clean while passing and getting passed. No touching even when he overtook two cars at the same time. Take note Lewis, that’s how it is done.

If the track stayed dry, I reckon we would have seen another Barcelona 96.

On the side note, while DRS can be good sometimes, it killed the art of defensive driving, especially in the long straights.
As a racing fan, I would love to see some defensive driving. And like many drivers said, over-taking should be like scoring a goal. I feel that Jenson and Mark just drove by Michael which isn’t the most skillful thing really.

Brilliant race from Jenson. I know there’s a few who make a point of critcizing Jenson at every opportunity but inspite of Jenson’s affable and relaxed persona, we should not be fooled into thinking that he does not have a steely determination to win! Thisa shows he has it just as much as the other top drivers.

I though F1 drivers were men, not litle children. Why they started the race behind the SC? Why Charlie W. stopped the race when his German child asked him to do it? Why British drivers always get or not a penalty AFTER THE RACE? They had ruined both Monaco and Montreal races because of CW red flags and bad decissions. F1 it´s a shame!

The rules and specs of F1 keep on changing to make it competitive and exciting, however – yesterday we saw Shumacher display a masterly drive in the wet as only he can and progressed from 11 to 2nd place in a car we all know has no pace, only to be overtaken by a much faster car turned into a rocket by DRS and making it impossible to defend, even by the best driver on the track. Driver ability unfortunately has no place in F1. If DRS is going to be allowed, it has to be available to all drivers at all times irrespective of their position on the track and whether they are attacking or defending ie.behind or in front.